The Vampire Diaries Season Three
by RoniCullen
Summary: In Season Three, Beth joins forces with Damon to find and help their brother Stefan, which leads to trouble with the Original Family, all while trying to figure out her complicated relationship with Jeremy Gilbert, repairing her bond with the Original Elijah and finding a possible new lover in another Original... Rated K plus for violence, nothing you won't see in the TV show.
1. The Birthday

**A/N Here's is the first episode/chapter of season three. **

**Dear Booklover100, sorry to disappoint, but there will be no Klaus-Beth pairings. I'm a personal fan of Caroline and Klaus, so I'm not going to mess with their relationship. Even though Klaus won't be with Beth, I really hope you love the pairings I do have this season (but I won't tell you who-with-who!). Feel free to tell me what you think (good or bad) about anything in the story (and I mean all of you, not just Booklover100!)**

* * *

I sat in Stefan's car, which I was using since he left with Klaus, in Richmond, Virginia. My phone was on the dash, propped up so that I could see Jeremy as we talked using the web-cams.

"You need to come home. It's boring without you." Jeremy complained. He was now working at the Grill and I could tell he was in the storage room.

"Sorry, Jeremy, but I'm still on the hunt for my missing big brother. I'm going to put up 'Have You Seen This Stupid Hero' posters." He laughed.

"You should come home for Elena's birthday at least. Gives you an excuse to lay off the Stefan-Quest." He suggested. I shrugged.

"I could be convinced. Honestly, I need a little home. I'm a sixteen year old girl in a cruel, cruel world."

"Beth, you're over a hundred." He reminded me.

"But I don't look that old, now do I?" I asked. I glared at him when he said nothing.

"No! No!" He said quickly, realizing his mistake. I rolled my eyes.

"So, how is the Grill treating you, Bus-Boy Gilbert?" I asked him, tapping my fingers against the steering wheel to the beat of the music I had playing, though it was turned down almost all the way. He shrugged.

"Actually, it's 'waiter Gilbert'. I got promoted quickly. Well, it's teaching me the value of a mundane human experience." He said.

"Did you just use a Mortal Instruments word?"

"It was a word before Mortal Instruments, Beth."

"Really?" I asked, unsure. I may have been born in 1848, but everyone agreed I was much more like the modern teenagers than the ones back then. Jeremy laughed again. In the background the lights flickered and something banged. I grabbed my phone off the dash.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Nothing… Look, I, uh, I got to get back to work. I'll talk to you soon, okay?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow. I'd known Damon long enough to be able to tell when a boy was lying.

"Wait, wait… Seriously, what is going on?" I asked.

"Nothing. Normal. Mundane, like the Mortal Instruments. Got to go." He turned off his phone. I rolled my eyes, tossed my phone onto the seat beside me and started the car again.

"Get a boyfriend, I said. It'll be fun, I said." I muttered as I started driving back towards Mystic Falls.

* * *

I knocked on Jeremy's door the second I got back in MysticFalls. He opened it and then he did a double take when he saw me.

"Congrats, you got me back to the Hellmouth. What the heck is going on?" I demanded. He didn't seem to get my Buffy: The Vampire Slayer reference, or if he did he didn't say anything about it.

"Jeez, you don't take no for an answer do you?" He asked, laughing.

"That wasn't a no. That was an 'I'm not going to tell you'. There's a difference. That difference being: you've never seen me when I'm trying to divulge a secret from someone!" I told him.

"I've learned not to underestimate you, though." He said with a smile.

"Smart boy. Can I come in? It's hot out here." I complained. He stepped aside, waving with his hand to motion for me to walk in.

"Of course, Miss Salvatore." He said dramatically. I walked in, smacked him lightly upside the head and laughed. He shut the door.

"So are you coming to the party tonight?" He asked as we flopped down on the couch.

"Elena's party? Yeah. I even got her a present from Richmond to celebrate." I told him as I held up a badly wrapped box for him to see.

"It's a keychain. She likes those, right?" I asked. He laughed.

"I'm sure she does." I put the box on the coffee table and nudged him with my elbow.

"It's good to be back home. I've got to keep you in check, after all." I teased. He leaned forward and kissed me, catching me off guard.

"Um… What was that for?" I asked, pulling away.

"There has to be a reason?" He asked.

"Good point." I kissed him, puling him closer to me. He lied down, pulling me onto his chest.

"Oh!" I jumped back from Jeremy at the sound of Elena's voice. She was in the doorway to the front door, looking shocked and embarrassed.

"Sorry." She added quickly. She shut the door and walked over to us, sitting on the arm of the couch.

"So you're back!" She said, smiling at me.

"No luck with Stefan, but I thought I'd come back for your birthday party before I went on the hunt again." I told her. She nodded.

"Thanks for searching for Stefan." She said. I nodded.

"Well, he may be your boyfriend of a year, but he's been my brother for my whole life. I'm not giving up on him. Ever." I told her. She smiled.

"Stefan and Damon are both lucky to have you as a sister." She told me. I smirked.

"And you're lucky to have me as a friend. And you're lucky to have me as a girlfriend, Jeremy. Really, everyone is lucky when I grace them with my presence." Elena and Jeremy both laughed.

"Ego much?" Elena asked. I smirked again.

"Only Damon sized."

* * *

That night at the party, I looked around at all the people in my house. I didn't even recognize most of them. I shook my head, thinking about what Stefan would do if that idiot hero was here… I grimaced again, realizing I was still calling him that when, honestly, I would've done the same thing to save Damon. Seeing him going out to the porch, I hurried after Damon. I met him on the porch while he was talking to Alaric.

"Hey, baby sis." I didn't bother correcting him with 'younger sis' this time. I hugged him and then Alaric, who chuckled and returned the hug. Then I sat down on the wide porch railing.

"So you're back. And alone." Damon noted.

"No luck." I admitted.

"Don't worry; we've been tracking him." Damon assured me. I smiled slightly. Elena came out onto the porch.

"Hey, birthday girl!" Damon greeted her in the same manner he'd greeted me.

"Drink!" She demanded without so much as 'hey, how ya doing' back, grabbing the scotch glass away from Damon. She took a drink and then looked at Alaric.

"Jeremy's smoking again." She told him.

"What?" I asked. Was that why he was so awkward around me lately?

"Is his stash any good?" Damon asked with a smirk.

"Beth." I knew what she meant just by my name. I smacked Damon upside the head, harder than I would have dared to do to a human.

"Talk to him, please. He looks up to you!" Elena pleaded with Alaric. She gave Damon his glass back and hurried back inside. Damon looked at Alaric.

"You're screwed." Damon told him. I sighed.

"I would talk to him, but here's my problem: not a lot of people actually listen to a short, cute as button sixteen year old." I told him. I shot Damon a look.

"Hey, don't give me that look! I listen to you! It's hard not to, you talk so much." He muttered, taking a sip of his scotch. I kicked at him.

"Who's the one talking now?"

"Still you!" He told me.

"Now it's you!"

"Now it's you!"

"Now it's you!"

"Now I know why Stefan ran away." Alaric said, interrupting us. Damon's phone beeped, signaling a text. He glanced at it and sighed.

"Andie wants me to pick her up." He said.

"Your fake, compelled girlfriend wants you to be a chivalrous boyfriend?" I asked, amused. He shot me a look.

"Well, it's a complicated dynamic." He told me. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, hold the fort down, will ya, Ric?" He asked Alaric.

"You mean the fort of my drunken history students?"

"Drink more, you'll feel less weird. Oh, Beth, here." He handed me his half full glass of scotch and hurried off. I raised the glass to take a drink but Alaric grabbed it from me, giving me a 'not happening' look.

"I'm older than you." I mumbled a weak defense as I hopped off the porch railing. I ventured back inside the house with the intention of going up to Stefan's attic bedroom, barricading myself inside and going through his journals for a hint of where he might be. And I was sure it would be entertaining to read them, though completely knocking aside any rules of privacy we had between us. I had just got into Stefan's bedroom when my phone rang. I pulled my phone out as I shut and locked Stefan's bedroom door. It was Damon. I answered it as I lied down on Stefan's bed.

"Damon, what's up?"

"_Andie's dead_."

"What? What happened?"

"_Stefan happened._" Damon growled.

"He killed her?"

"_He flipped the switch. He's gone_."

"Not forever." I protested.

"_Beth-_."

"You're not the one that's lived with him your whole life! You're not the one that has been directly below his bedroom you're whole life! You're not the one that gets to decide that!" I snapped. I hung up on him. I threw my phone down on the bed and then started crying.

* * *

**A/N I hope you liked that. I'll try to update an episode every day, but even if I don't, it won't be too long before updates. Please review and tell me what you think! **


	2. The Hybrid

**A/N I decided to update twice in one day. Don't ask me why. I just felt like it. Anyway, I hope that you guys like this episode. Please review and tell me what you think. **

**Dear Tetragirl, trust me, she's not exactly thrilled about Jeremy seeing Anna/Vicky, but that's for later in the story, so you'll have to read and find out for yourself. Thanks for the review. **

**Dear Booklover100, actually there's not a lot of interaction between Klaus and Beth in the this season. It focuses on her relationship with a lot of other characters though. **

**Without further ado, I present... 'The Hybrid'!**

* * *

I woke up in Stefan's bed to my phone ringing beside me. I groaned, grabbed it and answered it, seeing as it was Elena calling.

"What? It's-." I looked at the clock. "-Six in the morning!"

"_Don't be grumpy. Damon's been tracking Stefan. He says Stefan's gone, but I don't believe that. Being Miss I'm-not-giving-up-on-him-ever Salvatore, I figured you'd be on my side_." Elena said.

"I am. Why did you call me?"

"_I want to track Stefan down with Alaric. I thought, if he is off the rails, we could use a vampire just as old as he is._" She explained.

"Yeah, great plan, except the part where he's with _Klaus_." I reminded her.

"_You were tracking him down!_"

"Yes, but the only person I had to watch out for was _me_, Elena."

"_Beth, please! We know they're hunting down werewolves. If you can just ask Tyler if there's any place in Tennessee where werewolves group together on a full moon, then we can go and maybe get Stefan back! Please!_"

"Why do I have to ask him?" I asked as I climbed out of bed. I darted downstairs and into my bedroom. I paused in the doorway to my closet to listen to Elena.

"_Because Alaric and I are stocking up on weapons at his now Klaus-free apartment. Come on, Beth! You love Stefan as much as I do! Please! Please!_"

"Saying please over and over again is not going to convince me, Elena." I told her. I grabbed an outfit from my closet and threw it on my bed.

"_So… you're not doing it?_" She asked, disappointed and maybe a little shocked.

"Never said that. You were just getting annoying. I'll talk to Tyler, okay?"

"_Great! We'll meet you at the Grill?_"

"Sure."

"_Thanks, Beth!_" She hung up. I quickly got dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue paisley tunic shirt with leather boots. I headed downstairs and was almost out the door when Damon walked over to me.

"Where are you going? You're nocturnal. You never get up this early." He told me. I smirked at him.

"To the Grill." I told him.

"That desperate to see your bus-boy boyfriend?" He asked.

"One: he's a waiter now. Two: I'm seeing Tyler." I informed him.

"Why?"

"None of your business." I told him.

"Shady-pants." He accused.

"Bossy-pants." I shot back. He gave me a long, suspicious look and then walked off. I hurried out of the house and drove in Stefan's car to the Grill. I saw Tyler at one of the tables and I scooted into the chair across from him. He looked up.

"Hey, Beth!" He greeted.

"Hey. I have to ask you a question." I told him.

"Okay…" He said, suspicious. I explained what was going on to him.

"Well, a lot of us like to keep to ourselves for the full moon, chain ourselves up… But there are some werewolves that like to gather in places where they don't have to do that, where they can enjoy it." He explained.

"What kind of places?"

"Mountains, state parks, deserts, that kind of stuff."

"Any place in Tennessee?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Here, give me your phone. I'll try to pull up a map." He told me. I handed over my phone.

"Thanks for this." I told him. He shrugged.

"Well, as Caroline likes to remind me, Stefan's in this mess because I bit Damon. I figure I owe you Salvatore's one." He told me.

"Well, if it helps you were aiming for me. Damon intercepted and you bit him then. So, really, you meant to bite me, not Damon." I told him. He looked up as he handed me back my phone.

"No, actually that doesn't help." He told me. I shrugged.

"Just trying to help any way I can..." I told him.

"You know we haven't really talked much since-." I interrupted him.

"Since you broke up with me and then we were almost killed in a sacrifice?"

"Yeah… That… Don't suppose we're in the friend-stage yet?"

"Sure we are. We only dated for like five minutes. You didn't really rock my world." I told him, smirking. He laughed and kicked me under the table.

"Please, I rocked your world so hard!" He told me. I laughed. Elena and Alaric walked over. Alaric gave me a weird 'do I want to know?' look.

"Well, we have to go. It was nice seeing you when we're not about to be killed, Tyler." I told him. He nodded. Elena, Alaric and I hurried out of the Grill.

"You're driving." Alaric threw me the keys to his car. Elena climbed into the backseat while Alaric got into the passenger seat. I climbed into the driver's seat and started the car.

* * *

We were walking through the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. Alaric was in the lead, Elena behind him and I took up the rear.

"In a couple hours, the full moon's gonna rise just above that ridge. If Tyler's right, that's where the pack will be." Alaric was saying.

"You were a boy scout, weren't you? A boy scout slash vampire slayer?" Elena asked with a laugh.

"Slash whiskey drinking all around lost cause." He added. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't be so gloomy, Alaric, it doesn't suit you." I told him. He stopped and unzipped the duffel bag he was carrying. Elena and I gathered around him. It was full of weapons.

"Wow. You came stocked." Elena said.

"Well, we aren't exactly bird watching." He reminded her. He picked up a Vervain grenade.

"Here. Put this in your bag." He told her.

"Vervain grenade?" She asked.

"Wolfsbane." He corrected.

"Well, since we're exchanging gifts…." She held out the Gilbert ring for him.

"That's John Gilbert's ring." He noted.

"It was yours once. Go ahead. It'll protect you from whatever supernatural danger we're about to get ourselves into." She told him.

"He gave it to you." He reminded her.

"Yeah, but I'm a doppelganger. It won't work on me. And Beth's a kick butt vampire, so she doesn't even need it even if it did work on her. He left it for if I ever have kids." She told him.

"Yeah, well, then why don't you save it for future generations of stubborn, relentless baby Gilberts?" He asked.

"Okay, how about you borrow it until after we survive this? I'd feel bad if I got you killed before happy hour." She told him. He sighed and took the ring. She moved to the ledge to look over at the river.

"And I don't think you're a lost cause." She added. Suddenly she flew into the water. Damon smirked from where he'd pushed her.

"Damon! How are you even here?" She demanded from below.

"Thanks for the tip, brother." Damon said, smiling at Alaric. He nodded. Elena looked at him.

"You sold me out?!" She demanded.

"You think I'd take you to a mountain range of werewolves on a full moon without backup?" Alaric asked. I looked at him, offended.

"I thought I was your backup?" I asked.

"Sorry, but you don't compare to Damon." He admitted. I shot both of them a look.

"Get out of the water, Elena." Damon told her.

"If I get out of the water, then you'll make me go home!"

"Yes, because I'm not an idiot like you and my baby sis."

"Right now you're acting like an idiot!" I shot at him weakly.

"You gave up on him, Damon!" She yelled at him.

"I didn't give up on him, Elena. I faced reality. Now get out of the water."

"No!" He rolled his eyes and went into the water to get her out. I turned to Alaric. He was looking at the ring uncomfortably. I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously, Alaric, you should use it. I doubt there's any Mount Doom for you to accidentally drop it into." I reminded him. He smiled slightly.

* * *

After Elena made Damon promise that he'd come with us, we continued on, though Damon's complaints were coming on a little heavy for me.

"Why are you even going, Beth? Don't you have a handsome little boyfriend to get back to?" He asked in a not so subtle way of trying to convince me to go back.

"Jeremy's fine. He has his ring if anything goes wrong in Mystic Falls and we'll be back by tomorrow." I told him, catching a tree branch to avoid falling down the steep hill.

"How you doing?" Damon asked over his shoulder, looking at Elena as she lagged behind. She huffed.

"Fine."

"You know, I could help you." He offered.

"With my luck, you'd drop me!" She told him.

"What are you guys, twelve?" Alaric complained.

"We got about a mile left." He added.

"The sun's about to set." Damon informed us.

"I can see that, Damon." Elena snapped.

"I'm just saying…"

"The moon doesn't reach it's apex for a while, Damon; we still have time!" We heard some twigs snapping. Alaric raised his crossbow; Damon and I stepped forward and Elena moved behind Alaric. A blonde man came out from the trees, blood streaming out of his eyes.

"Vampire." He growled. He leapt onto me with unnatural speed, knocking me to the ground. Damon ran towards us but the man was quicker. He shoved me down the hill, sending me flying a ways before I was rolling. I hit the bottom of the hill with a sharp branch in my stomach. I groaned as I pulled it out. Then I growled and darted back up. The man was unconscious, Damon and Alaric leaning over him wearily. Elena ran over to me.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"Fine." I assured her.

"Did you get bit? This dude is a hybrid. Klaus turned him, I'm guessing." Damon told me. I checked myself over, though I was pretty sure I hadn't been. Once I was certain, I shook my head.

"I'm fine." I told him. He nodded. Then he grabbed the man, holding him against the tree.

"Let's tie him up." He said. I grabbed the ropes that Alaric handed me and tied him. Damon let him go as he woke up. We both jumped back to avoid getting bit. Elena poured some Vervain onto a rope.

"Ric, here, take these." Damon reached for them and then burned his hand, letting loose a cuss word.

"I said Ric!" Elena told him. Alaric took the ropes and tied them around the man.

"All right, that's the last of the Vervain. We don't have enough stuff to hold him. I don't think we're going to get to the ridge before the full moon." Alaric told us.

"If we can get him to talk, we don't have to." Elena reminded him. The man started screaming and I heard several of his bones crack.

"Is he turning?" Damon asked.

"It's impossible. It's still daylight!" Elena protested.

"Tell him that…" Alaric said.

"Those ropes are not going to hold the wolf!" I warned. Damon darted forward, holding the man's shoulders to keep him against the tree.

"We have to get out of here! We've gotta to get out of the mountains. Damon, now!" Elena yelled. We ran. The sun set quickly as we sprinted down the mountain. When it was dark, I knew that all the wolves would be out. Elena tripped behind me and fell to the ground. Alaric, Damon and I turned around.

"Don't move!" Damon warned as the wolf stared at her. She raised her head and jumped a little, but stayed put.

"Here doggie-doggie!" Damon ran vampire-speed away and the wolf went after him.

"Get her out of here!" I yelled at Alaric before taking off after Damon and the wolf. I followed closely behind them so able to see how close the wolf was to Damon. When he got too close, I let out a whistle.

"Faced werewolves tougher than you before, fluffy!" I yelled at it. It stopped and turned towards me, as did Damon. The wolf ran after me and I vamp-sped off. Damon met me when I stopped for a breath behind a tree.

"What? Are we going to do this all night?" He asked.

"Maybe. I don't really have a plan." I admitted. I heard the wolf catching up, so I grabbed Damon's hand and we kept running. We made it to a clearing and stopped, waiting to see if the wolf was still following us. The man appeared in human form, growling. Damon and I both let out fangs extend, ready to fight. Suddenly the man dropped and Stefan stood behind him, his heart in his hands.

"Stefan!" I gasped.

"Fancy meeting you here." Damon said.

"What part of 'don't follow me anymore' was lost in translation?" Stefan demanded. I darted forward to hug him. He didn't resist, though he didn't exactly return the hug either. I pulled away as Damon spoke.

"Might want to take it up with your girlfriend. You don't want her chasing you, I'd stop with the late-night phone calls."

"I didn't call her."

"Sure you did." Damon told him.

"She's not gonna give up on you." I reminded him.

"She has to. Because I'm never coming back. Why don't you get her home? And see if you can keep her there this time. Beth too. Yeah, I saw you chasing after me. You're lucky Klaus didn't kill you!" With that said, Stefan darted off. I moved to go after him but Damon caught my arm.

"Let's go." We darted back to Alaric's car. Elena got out and ran over to us.

"Beth, get in the car." Damon told me, shooting an annoyed look at Elena. I climbed into the now vacant front seat. Alaric looked at me.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Fine."

"You don't look fine."

"Don't ask if you already think you know the answer." I snapped.

"Beth… You met Stefan?" He asked. I nodded.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as Elena and Damon climbed into the backseats. Elena leaned forward.

"Sorry about what?" She asked.

"I'm dirty, tired and almost got bitten by a werewolf. You should be apologizing too!" I told her, putting on my seatbelt as Alaric started the car. She mumbled her half hearted apology as Alaric drove back towards MysticFalls.

When I got into the boarding house I went upstairs to my bedroom. I was feeling better after a shower. I pulled my robe on and went into my bedroom. I picked up my phone and hit the speed dial for Stefan's phone. Of course, he didn't answer, but I was expecting that much. I left a message for him.

"Stefan. If you think we're just going to give up on you. You're an idiot! I will chase after you and I will fight an army of werewolves to get to you. I'm not giving up. You know that. And tell Klaus that I may be just a vampire while he's the Original hybrid, but he should be scared of me!"

* * *

**A/N For any fans that noticed it, yeah I made a Lord of the Rings reference. I hope you guys liked the chapter/episode. **


	3. The End of the Affair

**A/N Here's the third episode of season three. Hope you guys like it. **

* * *

Damon was driving his car to Chicago, where we hoped Stefan was. Elena was in the front passenger seat while I was in the backseat.

"I sure hope we find him, cause it would suck if the last momento of Stefan was that crappy necklace." Damon told Elena. She touched her necklace.

"It's an antique, Damon. Like you." She shot back.

"Beth." He said. I handed him the leather bounder diary from beside him. He held the diary out to Elena.

"Read this. Paints a pretty little picture of Stefan's first experience in Chicago." He told her.

"It's Stefan's diary. I'm not going to invade his private thoughts!" She protested.

"Go ahead. I've already read all of them." I told her. She looked over at me.

"Seriously?!"

"What? If you lived in the same house with your broody big brother, you'd eventually read all his diaries too!" I told her. She just shook her head at me.

"You need to be prepared for what your about to see." Damon told her.

"I've seen Stefan in his darkest periods. I can handle it." She assured him. I rolled my eyes. She had not seen him in his darkest periods. She's seen him about to fall off the wagon. She'd never seen him when the wagon was nothing but a dot on the horizon. Damon opened the diary.

"Here's one. March 12, 1922. 'I've blacked out for days. I wake up in strangers' blood, in places I don't recognize with women I don't remember'. I'm shocked! Stefan's not a virgin?" Elena grabbed the diary from his hands.

"Eyes on the road, grandma!" She snapped at him.

"Fine. Beth, we're back to my game! Tell me if you see a Florida plate!"

* * *

We went into Stefan's old apartment in Chicago. We paused at the locked door and Damon looked at me expectantly. I nodded and went over to the lock.

"Elena, give me a bobby pin." She handed one over and I kneeled down to pick the lock.

"Stefan could live anywhere in Chicago and he chose this place?" Elena asked in confusion, looking around the crappy apartment building.

"There used to be an all girls high school around the corner, but it was shut down for attendance issues. Weird, right?" Damon asked.

"If you're trying to scare me into giving up and going back, it's not going to work!" Elena told him. I pushed the door open. Elena looked at me.

"Where'd you learn that?"

"I'm a vampire, Elena. I picked up a few things. Here we are. Stefan's second personality home." I told her. We walked into the tiny two room apartment.

"He obviously hasn't been here." Elena said.

"Tour is not over yet." I went to the hidden door and opened it. She peeked inside the room at the gorilla racks of alcohol bottles.

"He hid his alcohol. What a monster." Elena said sarcastically.

"Look harder." I encouraged. She saw the long list of names pinned to the wall.

"A list of names…? These are his victims?!"

"Still handling it?" Damon asked with a smirk.

"Where were you two in the 1920's?" She asked, looking between us.

"I was around. Chicago's a big city." Damon told her.

"I was with Lexi in New York. Girl's night… Well, that turned into Girls-Decade before we finally found Stefan and got him back to being the Stefan you know." I explained. While I was talking, Damon was walking out of the apartment.

"Where are you going?" Elena demanded.

"His old stomping ground. You and Beth stay here. Whip up an actual plan. I'll come back when I find him." He said before leaving. Elena looked around, obviously bored. Finally she sat down on the bed and opened Stefan's old diary to read it. I pulled my phone out. I called Jeremy. He answered after three or four rings.

"_Hey, Beth, what's up?_"

"So I'm in Chicago. Did you notice before now?" I asked. He laughed.

"_I noticed you were gone. I figured you were out on the hunt for your missing brother_."

"Good guess." I amended.

"_Any luck?_"

"Not yet. What are you doing?"

"_Stuff_."

"Stuff? Well, just tell me its stuff that does _not_ involve no clothing and another girl." I ignored the really weird look that Elena gave me.

"_It doesn't._" He assured me. Suddenly I heard someone coming. Two steps of footsteps, one way too familiar. Stefan… And Klaus. I grabbed Elena's arm, pulling her off the bed.

"Gotta go. Talk to you later." I hung up on Jeremy. I pushed a terrified Elena into the hidden closet and pulled the door shut. She called Damon while we squeezed in between the wall and one of the racks. He didn't answer. She put her phone back in her jacket and gave me a worried look. I put my finger to my lips. She nodded. I crouched down and hit the speed dial for Damon's number. No answer. I almost groaned, though I kept myself silent to avoid being heard by Klaus and Stefan. He chose an excellent time to ignore us! Not. Elena had been listening in on their conversation in the apartment and she kicked me, hard. I straightened up. She mouthed 'they're coming in here!' at me. I gritted my teeth. I went through my options, which there was really only one of. I attack Stefan and Klaus, buying Elena enough time to run and get to Damon. By the time she was on the street, I'd be a puddle of blood on the floor, but she'd have a head start at the very least. If I was going to die today, might as well go out fighting. Elena hit me again. I looked over at her. She held up a Vervain dart. It would give her a paper thin about of leverage. I nodded approvingly. Stefan opened the closet door. I let my fangs extend, ready to fight my brother if I had to. He looked at us, surprised.

"Look what I found!" Stefan called to Klaus. I tensed, waiting for Klaus to come in here too. Elena let out a low whimper, though I was pretty sure I was the only one that heard. Stefan grabbed a bottle from by my head.

"1918. Single malt." He walked out of the closet, shutting the door again. Outside, I heard them walking out of the apartment again.

"My favorite. Let's go and find someone to pair it with!" Klaus said. I shivered just at his voice. Once we heard the door shut, I motioned for Elena to stay put. I opened the door and looked around the apartment. They were really gone. I locked the front door again.

"It's safe!" I called to Elena. She hurried out of the closet and flopped down on the bed.

"I thought I was going to die." She said with relief in her voice. I rolled my eyes, though my sense of humor as a little depleted at the moment.

"I wouldn't have let them kill you. I had a plan." I told her, calling Damon again.

"Which was?" She asked. Damon didn't answer and I groaned before answering her question.

"Attack them. Give you a head start to get to Damon and get the heck out of Chicago. Die fighting. I thought it would be poetic." I told her. She looked at me with wide eyes. I quickly texted Damon.

**Almost discovered by Klaus! Answer when I call, you idiot!**

"You would die to give me a chance?" Elena asked as I hit the 'send text' button.

"Sure, why not? Jeremy needs you. Stefan's not coming back if he kills you. Damon could use a little buddy." I said, shrugging like it was no big deal.

"Jeremy needs you too." She reminded me.

"Not as much."

"Yes, just as much or more. You don't see the way he looks at you when you're not looking at him. Like he would kill just to get you to glance at him. The way he smiles when you do, even if it has nothing to do with him. The way he says you name, like you're a queen. He loves you more than you know, Beth."

"And I love him more than _you_ know. But sometimes I have to make the decision to die for a cause, Elena. You of all people should know that."

* * *

Damon burst into the apartment, carrying two shopping bags. Elena and I jumped up from the bed, both of us staring coldly at him.

"We called you an hour ago!" We said in unison. He thrust a bag into each of our arms.

"Make yourselves presentable. You're all road trippy and gross." He told us.

"I told you that Elena and I were almost discovered by Klaus and you're worried about what we're wearing!?" I asked. He sighed.

"And I had an hour to realize what bad idea it was to leave you two here alone, process it and move on. Are you okay?" He asked. We both nodded.

"I know where Stefan is. I'll distract Klaus so you can deal with him. But you'll have about five minutes tops before the hybrid freak rips my heart out. So please tell me you can do this?" He asked.

"I can do this." Elena assured him.

"I'll help distract. It'll buy her more time and I want to show Klaus what I'm made of." I told Damon. He looked like he was going to protest, but didn't. He knew too well that it was no use trying to change my mind.

"Fine. Now get dressed." He went into the other room. I dug through the bag to see what he'd gotten me. There was a black lace top, skinny jeans and a new pair of leather boots. I quickly got dressed. I was faster than Elena, so I went into the kitchen to see Damon while she finished.

"I don't like you fighting Klaus." He muttered.

"Good. We're on the same page." I told him.

"Beth-."

"Don't. I'm not that little girl that was scared of thunder and used to crawl in bed with you for protection against the big bad monsters!" I told him. He looked at me, his expression showing his regret about that. Elena walked into the room and then stopped.

"Oh… Is there a sibling moment going on here?" She asked. Damon just looked at her.

"Let's go."

* * *

While Stefan and Elena talked outside, Damon and I went into the bar, going on either side of him. Klaus looked at us and laughed.

"I see they've opened the doors to the riff raff now."

"Oh, honey, I've been called worse." I told him.

"You two don't give up, do you?" He asked.

"Give me my brother back. You'll never have to see me again." Damon told him.

"Well, I am torn. You see, I promised Stefan that I wouldn't let you die, or you, Elisabeth, but how many freebies did I really sign up for? And clearly you want to die, so…."

"What can I say? I'm a thrill seeker." Damon said. Klaus grabbed him by the throat. I grabbed Klaus's other arm, breaking it easily. He fell to the floor as he arm mended. He grinned like a crazy person up at me.

"I also promised Elijah that I wouldn't harm his sweet little girl… But well, he's daggered in a box, so it doesn't really matter anymore." I growled and lunged at him. He caught me by the throat. Damon plowed into him, knocking him onto a table and crushing it beneath them. Klaus grabbed the two of the table legs. He threw one into my stomach and I crumpled to my knees. He stabbed Damon with the other.

"I'm a bit boozy, so you'll have to excuse me if I miss your heart a few times!" Klaus told him. He stabbed him again as I pulled the stake out of my stomach with a groan.

"Oh, that's not it!" Klaus was about to stab him again when the stake caught fire, burning up in his hands. He looked over at the woman that had entered the bar.

"Not in my bar! Take it outside!" She ordered. Klaus got to his feet and Damon weakly climbed to his feet as well. I stood up, going to stand shoulder to shoulder with Damon. Klaus smiled at us.

"You don't have to try to get your brother back. Once I'm done with him, he won't want to come back."

Damon and I made our way back to the car. Elena was sitting in the passenger seat, staring out the window, having obviously failed. I crawled into the backseat as Damon got into the driver's seat.

"You okay?" Damon asked her.

"Just drive."

* * *

**A/N Please review and tell me what you think! Oh, and I forgot before, but Ddluzelle, let's just say that Jeremy and Anna's relationship doesn't change just because it's Beth, not Bonnie... **


	4. Disturbing Behavior

**A/N Please review and tell me what you think!**

* * *

Caroline made me to go over to the Gilbert house. There was a potluck at the Lockwood mansion that Caroline, Bonnie and Elena were cooking a few things for. Apparently it was a friend thing I had to be there. I sat at the island in the kitchen, watching them cook.

"Since when did you learn to cook?" Caroline asked Elena.

"Damon helped a little." She admitted.

"Damon's helping you cook now?" Bonnie asked.

"Both of you stopping judging. He's just trying to be a good- OW!"

"Did I splash you?" Caroline asked. Elena grabbed her necklace, pulling it away from her skin.

"No, my necklace." There was a burn mark on her skin where the necklace had been.

"It burned me!" She gasped.

"Here." I stood up and went over. I took the necklace off her, examining it.

"Give it to me." I handed it over to Bonnie. Bonnie touched it but then dropped it like it had shocked her. Bonnie gasped, shaking out her hand.

* * *

At the Lockwood mansion, Bonnie met Caroline, Elena and I away from the party with the grimoire. She squeezed onto the bench next to Elena.

"I have an identification spell that might be able to tell me what magic affect the necklace." She told us. Elena handed over her necklace.

"It's going to take a while, so tell me if anyone's coming, okay?" Bonnie asked. We all nodded and she leaned over her grimoire with the necklace in hand, eyes closed in concentration.

"So you're not, like, switching Salvatore's, are you?" Caroline asked Elena.

"What?" Elena asked.

"Caroline…" Bonnie warned.

"Stay focused." Caroline told Bonnie. She looked back at Elena.

"As your friend who worries about you daily, what is your deal with Damon?"

"There is no deal with Damon!" Elena protested. Caroline looked at me.

"Has there been romantic tension between the two of them?" She asked me. Elena looked at me, daring me to answer that question.

"Um… Look!" I pointed towards the necklace, which was floating.

"What are you doing?" Caroline asked.

"I'm not doing anything. It has its own magic!"

* * *

Bonnie left to go through the grimoires and Elena, Caroline and I stayed, walking around the Lockwood grounds together as we talked.

"Where did Stefan get the necklace?" Elena asked me. I shrugged.

"Not sure, honestly." I admitted. Caroline looked over us and cussed. We both looked behind us.

"That's my dad. The one that tortured me. I have to go." She hurried off, but I followed her.

"Caroline, little more information." I pleaded as she went up to Tyler's room in the mansion. She pulled me into his bedroom and shut the door. After she'd explained all of what had happened, I hugged her.

"I'm sorry I was out of town!" I told her. She shook her head.

"It's fine… Kind of." She told me. We pulled out of the hug.

"I just want to hide out here." She said, sitting down on Tyler's bed. I nodded understandingly.

"If he messes with you, call me. I'll compel him to go join a circus if I need to!" I told her. She smiled and laughed as I walked out. I rejoined Elena. Alaric and Damon were there too. I hadn't heard the first part of the conversation, but it had obviously been an argument.

"Step aside!" Damon told Alaric.

"It's not going to happen." Alaric replied.

"You're temporary funeral!" Before I could stop him, Damon snapped Alaric's neck.

"NO! Damon what is wrong with you?!" Elena demanded. He just looked at her and left. I went over to Alaric's body, looking around to make sure no one had seen that.

"I'll take him back to the boarding house until he wakes up." I told her. I grabbed him and darted back to the boarding house. I put Alaric down on the couch. My phone rang as I sat down on the floor by the couch. I saw it was Jeremy and answered the phone.

"Hey, Jeremy." I told him.

"_You asked me if something was wrong when you came back and I told you nothing… It was a lie. Something happened_."

"What?" I asked, instantly concerned.

"_Every since I came back from life… I've been seeing ghosts_."

"Seriously?"

"_Yes… I've been seeing Anna and Vicki._"

"Okay…" I said, not sure how to respond to him having been seeing his dead girlfriends outside.

"_Mostly Anna_." He added.

"Um…"

"_Look, Beth, I want to be honest with you. I can't keep lying to you about what's going on. I'm sorry I lied this long to you._"

"So… Um… What's been happening between you and Anna?"

"_We talked… She's all alone on the other side. I've been talking to her. That's it, I swear_."

"Not having ghost sex?"

"_No!_" The door opened and Damon came in.

"I'm glad you told me, but I have to go." I told him.

"_Okay, I'll talk to you later_."

"Okay, bye." I hung up and glared at Damon.

"You killed Alaric!" I yelled at him.

"I'm aware." He told me.

"Stefan can be saved. You can't." I snapped. His expression faltered. I headed upstairs to my bedroom, leaving Damon to think about that.


	5. The Reckoning

**A/N Short episode/chapter last time, so I decided to give you two in one day. **

* * *

"So you've been seeing your dead girlfriend for the summer…" I said as I sat in Jeremy's bedroom with him. He nodded, not saying anything. I put my head on his shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"You'd freak."

"I didn't freak." I protested. There was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." I offered. When he didn't protest, I went downstairs and opened the front door.

"Hello again, my least favorite little Salvatore." Katherine greeted me. Before I could move, she snapped my neck and it all went black.

* * *

I woke up on the ground. I moaned and looked around. Damon was leaning over me, a 'oh crap she's awake' look on his face.

"What happened?!" I demanded, sitting up. Katherine smiled at me from by the car. I darted forward, but Damon caught me by the waist, turning me around. Jeremy was laid out on a picnic table, either unconscious or dead. I ran over to him and checked his pulse. Once I was sure he was alive, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"What if I told you there was a way to kill Klaus? Not dagger dead. Dead-dead." Katherine said. I sat down on the bench at the table, glaring at her.

"I'd say you're desperate." Damon said.

"And lying." I added.

"Or drunk." Damon added.

"Or desperate, lying and drunk." I finished. She ignored all of that.

"Do you remember my friend Pearl?"

"Vividly." Damon said with a shudder.

"Centuries ago, she told me about a vampire who knew how to kill Klaus. Then she wouldn't tell me anymore." Katherine explained.

"Why not?" Damon demanded.

"Because it was her leverage. She knew it was valuable information and wouldn't share it with me."

"Well, this is all great, but she's dead." I reminded her.

"Which is why I never brought it up. She only told one other person. Her daughter Anna."

"Also dead." Damon reminded her.

"Which brings us around to-."

"Back to me." I jumped when Jeremy spoke. He sat up, rubbing his head and then stepped down to sit down next to me on the bench.

"This isn't going to work." Jeremy told us. A phone vibrated somewhere. Katherine rolled her eyes and took Jeremy's phone from her pocket.

"Your witch friend is getting annoying." She muttered.

"You. Focus." Damon told Jeremy. A second later he looked over at the top of the table.

"No, it's okay to help." Damon and I looked at each other, seeing nothing.

"They're looking for a way to stop Klaus." Jeremy went on.

"What's she saying?" Damon asked.

"Well, she doesn't want to help you." Katherine whispered something to Damon that I didn't hear. Damon walked over to Jeremy.

"Jeremy, I just want you to know, it's nothing personal." Before I could figure out what he meant by that, Damon slammed Jeremy's head into the table. Jeremy cussed.

"DAMON!" I yelled at him.

"Anna, I know you can hear me. Tell us what you know. The sooner the better for your little boyfriend here!" Damon said loudly.

"Mikael!" Jeremy said.

"Who's Mikael?" Damon asked. There was a short minute of silence as Jeremy listened to Anna.

"He's a vampire and a hunter and you guys would be idiots to wake him!" Jeremy said. He looked back at where I suppose Anna was.

"What do you mean, wake him?" Jeremy asked. Damon looked at Katherine.

"It's time to go find the keys."

* * *

I paced in front of the table as Damon and Katherine searched for the keys that Damon apparently threw far, far away. I glanced back at Jeremy.

"Don't fall asleep. You might have a concussion." I told him. He blinked quickly and sat up straighter. Damon and Katherine came back.

"Where's my phone?" Damon asked Katherine.

"Do you need to check in on Elena? Make sure it's okay you pummeled her baby bro?" Katherine mocked.

"I'm about to pummel you!" I threatened. I wasn't sure if she was actually scared, but she did hand Damon's phone over to him.

"Bonnie's been texting me." He said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Klaus."

"No turning back, Damon!" Katherine said quickly.

"Shut up, Katherine." Damon told him. He handed me the keys.

"You and Jeremy stay with her so Anna can guide you. I'm going back." He told us.

"You're going to get yourself killed! The Damon I remember wouldn't have been that stupid!" Katherine called after him as he started to walk away. He turned halfway around to look at her.

"I wouldn't have done it for you!"

* * *

Jeremy drove with Anna guiding him while I sat in the passenger seat. Katherine was in the back. I assumed Anna was either in the back with her or in-between Jeremy and me. I didn't ask; I honestly didn't want to know. Katherine leaned forward to talk to me.

"Why do I have to be in the backseat? I hate the backseat!" She complained.

"Suck it up." I told her.

"Brat." She told me.

"Idiot." I shot back.

"Please fall out of this car." She told me.

"Please shut up."

"What? No comeback? That's new. Jeremy's changed you. It's sweet. No, scratch that, it's disgusting. You used to be a brat. Now you're just annoying."

"Do you miss our arguments?" I asked her, my voice dripping with mock sweetness.

"No!" She snapped.

"Here's a comeback for you." I turned to look at her.

"Please shut up before I superglue your tongue to your chin."

* * *

Katherine, Jeremy, most likely Anna, and I were in a cemetery, standing in front of a crypt. I was nervous and pretty sure that I'd seen a horror movie start like this once.

"How do you know that Anna wasn't tricking you?" Katherine asked.

"This is the place. It's the oldest wing of the largest cemetery in Charlotte. She said that a witch entombed him here in the nineties." Jeremy assured her. We walked in. There was another set of double doors that were locked tight. Katherine looked at me.

"Beth?" She asked with a smirk.

"Shut up." I said in reluctant agreement. Together we shoved the doors open, breaking the locks. We walked inside the tomb with Jeremy following.

"Found him." Katherine said, staring at the coffin inside. We shoved the coffin lid off. A man looked like he was daggered, though there was no dagger and he was chained inside the coffin. His eyes popped open and a scream escape my mouth. Katherine gave me an annoyed look.

"We have to get back. You get Mikael." I told her. She nodded, leaning over him curiously. I took Jeremy's hand and the two of us left.


	6. Smells Like Teen Spirit

**A/N Please review!**

* * *

"Here we are! Senior year!" Caroline said excitedly, apparently ignoring the fact that I was, in fact, not in senior year since I was a year below them.

"Yeah. Why should I let the fact that my boyfriend is seeing the ghosts of his dead girlfriend bother me on this perfectly wonderful day?" I asked sarcastically.

"Or the fact that I've never had a boyfriend that didn't turn out to be evil!" Bonnie added.

"Or the fact that my boyfriend is now a hybrid!" Caroline added.

"Stefan and I met on the first day of school last year." Elena said. We all just looked at her for a minute.

"Yeah, you win." Caroline admitted. We walked into school.

* * *

Jeremy caught me at my locker and it would have been too obvious if I tried to avoid him. I sighed and shut my locker, forcing a smile onto my face.

"So what? It's not cool to talk to your boyfriend this year?" He asked.

"Hey. Happy first day." I greeted him.

"You're mad."

"I'm not mad. Why should I be mad that I have to share my boyfriend with Anna and Vicki, who seem to always be there watching us?" I asked sarcastically.

"I haven't talked to Vicki in a while!"

"That's not the point, Jeremy!"

"I know that. I know, okay? But we both know I had to see Anna again for the information that Damon needed." He reminded me.

"I know that. I was there, Jeremy. But put yourself in my shoes. You loved both of them. You guys didn't break up. They died. And you keep letting them back in!" I told him.

"You think I want any of this?" He asked.

"I think you have the power to decide whether or not you have to see them. Just remember that." I walked off, headed for my class. I saw Alaric in the hallway and jogged to catch up with him. He looked at me, but didn't stop walking.

"First day." I noted, not sure what else to say.

"Yep." He agreed.

"Is that Stefan?" He added. I looked towards where he was looking. Stefan had Elena by the arm while she struggled to get away. We hurried over.

"Let her go, Stefan!" I told him. Stefan grabbed Alaric and pushed him against the locker.

"Stefan!" I protested.

"You're not going to get in my way. Okay, Ric? I will see you both in History." He smirked at me and then left. Elena, Alaric and I went into Alaric's classroom.

"What is he doing here?" I asked once we were alone.

"Klaus compelled him to watch over me. Apparently I'm one of Klaus's assets now that my blood is the only way to create a hybrid." Elena explained.

"Now he's a body guard?" Alaric asked.

"I don't know what he is. But he's definitely not Stefan." The bell rang.

"Look, his being here is not good for any of us. We need to do something." Elena told us. Students came in, so we took our seats. Stefan sat down behind Elena, next to me. Caroline, who was on the other side of me, looked at me. I just shook my head, a silent warning about him.

"Welcome back. Let's turn our brains back on, starting with this country's original founders… The Native Americans." Alaric said. A blonde girl entered the room.

"What about the Vikings?" She asked. Thick accent, I noted. I saw Elena tense and put it together. That was Klaus's sister, Rebekah.

"There's not evidence that Viking explorers actually settled in the United States… Who are you?" Alaric asked as she took her seat.

"My name is Rebekah. I'm new. And History is my favorite subject!"

* * *

Alaric, Damon, Elena, Caroline and I met after school in Alaric's classroom. Caroline and I sat on the desk together while Alaric, Damon and Elena stood.

"I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire. Then when he's distracted…" Elena started.

"I'll shoot him." Alaric finished, nodding.

"Can't Bonnie just ju-ju him or something?" Damon asked.

"I'm trying to keep Bonnie out of this! I don't trust Stefan not to hurt her. Caroline, are you done?" Elena asked. Caroline nodded.

"The old Forbes jail is prepped and ready! Oh, and I talked to Tyler and he's raiding his mom vervain's supply to help us out." She explained.

"We're forgetting a key player here. Rebekah. Wherever Stefan goes, the blonde ponytail tends to follow." I reminded them. They all nodded.

"Which is why Damon's job is to keep her away." Elena said.

"How?! She's an Original. Last time I checked, we're out of daggers." He reminded us.

"Use your charm." Elena told him.

"Might have better luck finding the daggers." Alaric muttered.

"What's my job?" I asked.

"You, Beth, are damage control. Make sure that Stefan doesn't kill anyone at the bonfire." Alaric explained. I nodded in agreement. Tyler ran into the room.

"I got the Vervain from my mom. Why do we need it?" He asked.

"We need to keep Stefan down for a while." Caroline told him.

"We can't do that to Stefan." Tyler said at once.

"Trust me; it's in his best interest." I assured him.

"Yeah. But it's not in Klaus's." He said.

"Um, Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler. Why are you acting like some freaky hybrid slave minion?" Caroline asked. Damon and I exchanged looks.

"Uh-oh." We said in unison.

"Klaus made me who I am, Caroline. I owe him everything!" Tyler told her.

"What's going on?" Elena asked. Damon and I both jumped Tyler. I grabbed him while Damon stuck a Vervain dart. I let him fall to the floor.

"What are you doing!?" Caroline yelled.

"He's been sired." Damon told her.

"What?" She asked.

"Sired. He feels loyal to Klaus because Klaus's blood created him. He'll seek acceptance from his master. Rare in vampires, but maybe not so much in hybrids." I explained.

"So how do I fix him?" Caroline asked. Damon just shook his head.

"Get a new boyfriend." He told her. My phone rang in my pocket and I stepped out into the hallway to answer it since it was Jeremy.

"What's up?" I asked.

"_I need your help_."

"Of course. What's going on?" He explained everything about Vicki trying to get back from the other side and having help from another witch.

"Two seconds." I ordered. I ducked back into the room.

"Rain check on me being the damage control. Caroline will have to do that." I told them.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked.

"Not important."

* * *

Jeremy, Bonnie and I met in the hallway later that night while the others were at the bonfire party, hopefully succeeding in capturing Stefan.

"So you've been working with Anna on this?" I asked Jeremy.

"She's on the other side, okay? I thought she might know something."

"What? I thought she was all alone there on the other side?" I asked. Bonnie walked faster, seemingly desperate to avoid this conversation and Jeremy and I both stopped to talk.

"Somehow Vicki's been communicating with some super strong witch." He told me.

"And you felt that I didn't need to know about any of this before now?" I asked. Something about him talking to his dead girlfriend more often than his still living (kind of) one made me easier to piss off in general.

"Not now, Anna!" He said, looking beside him.

"She's here?!"

"She's just trying to help!" He said quickly.

"I can't… I can't deal with this right now!" I said, hurrying after Bonnie.

"Beth!" I stopped and turned around to look at him again.

"Matt's trying to resurrect his dead, pain in the butt of a sister who I hated on her best days. I think I'll deal with that." I snapped. I left, leaving him to talk with his dead girlfriend.

* * *

By the time I got to the classroom Bonnie had set up candles in, Matt had arrived and was sitting across from her. I stayed by the desk to let them do whatever they needed to.

"I found a spell that can block whatever magic is helping Vicki."

"What do I do?" Matt asked.

"Give me your hand." She took his hand and cut it with a knife. Bonnie started chanting. Vicki appeared in the classroom. I jumped.

"Matt, make her stop!" She yelled.

"I'm sorry, Vicki… You can't do this…" Matt said. She lunged at Bonnie, but I got the way so she plowed into me, knocking me over. I was surprised she was powerful enough that she could actually touch me. But that also meant that I could touch her… I jumped up, punched her and when she went down. I jumped on her chest, holding her down by the throat.

"Bonnie!" I yelled, not sure how long I could hold her.

"Matt, she's still here because of you! You have to let her go!" Bonnie told him. Vick struggled and shoved me off, sending me flying into the desk. I got up again. She grabbed me by the throat and kicked me in the stomach. When I went down, she got on top of me, strangling me.

"MATT!" Bonnie and I yelled in unison.

"I'm sorry… Goodbye Vicki." She disappeared and I sat up. Matt just nodded slowly.

"She's gone…"

* * *

I examined my neck in front of my mirror in my bedroom. The bruises from Vicki's hands were slowly but surely disappearing. My phone rang and I looked over at it. I ignored it when I saw it was Jeremy. I stripped out of my clothes and got into my baseball shirt and boxer shorts that I used as pajamas while he left a message.

"_Beth, come on! Stop dodging my calls. Don't you think we should at least talk about this_?" I glared at the phone, as if Jeremy could see it. I flopped on my bed and curled up under my covers.

"You sure know how to pick 'em, Beth." I told myself before falling asleep.


	7. Ghost World

**A/N I hope you guys like this chapter/episode. Please review and tell me what you think!**

* * *

I helped Caroline hang lanterns from trees for the 'Night of Illuminations'. She was on a ladder while I handed the lanterns up to her.

"So when Bonnie did the spell to send Vicki away, did that get rid of Anna too?" Caroline asked. I sighed and handed her another lantern.

"I wish. All she did was block the magic that was helping Vicki get a physical foothold here, allowing her to physically be a pain in our butts. Jeremy's still got a direct line to the other side and as long as he wants to see Anna and she wants to see him, she's still here." I explained.

"Okay, you seriously don't think I can actually resist commenting on that, Beth." Caroline said with a small laugh. I glared up at her.

"There. You commented it." I told her, the 'shut up' implied in my tone. She sighed and climbed down off the ladder to look me in the eye.

"What do you want me to say, Caroline? I begged Emily to bring him back. She said there would be consequences. I'm living with those." I told her.

"Well, I want you to say you're not okay with it." She told me.

"I'm a thousand times 'not okay' with Jeremy and Anna, Caroline! I just don't know what to do about it!" I told her. She hugged me.

"Oh, Beth. I'm sorry. You've got boy drama. Like really bad boy drama. But it'll work out." She pulled away to give me a reassuring smile. Then her phone rang. She answered it.

"Bonnie? What's going on?" Bonnie spoke for a minute, but I didn't listen in. Caroline hit me on the shoulder and then put her on speaker phone.

" -_And I think that ghosts might have escaped the other side_." Bonnie was saying. I looked at Caroline. Her eyes were wide.

"What do you mean 'escaped'?" Caroline asked.

"_I mean, you might be seeing ghosts around. I'm trying to figure out a way to put them back on the other side, but it could take a while_."

"How many ghosts do you think escaped the other side?" I asked.

"_Beth? Um, not sure… Just be careful. We have a bunch of dead enemies that might be running around today_." She told us.

"Of course. Work on getting them back, okay? Do you need anything?" Caroline asked.

"_I could use help. Can you come to the abandoned witch house? Bring Beth_."

"Sure, sure." Caroline agreed.

"_Thanks. See you there_."

* * *

Caroline and I met Bonnie down in the basement of the witch house. It made me almost sick to see this room again. Caroline spoke first.

"So this is where you brought Jeremy back to life?" She asked, looking around. Bonnie nodded as she sat on the floor with a grimoire on her lap.

"Yeah, sorry, I know it's creepy. But we needed a private place around here to do the spell." Bonnie explained. Caroline nodded.

"Hmm… There's no chance it's haunted by the hundred dead witches who were horrifically burned to death in this very spot?" She asked.

"They're not here anymore. They got pissed when we brought Jeremy back." I reminded her, though I had a creepy feeling they were still watching us.

"Right…. Did they pinkie swear?"

* * *

Caroline and I lit candles around Bonnie as she prepared to do the spell. Once we were finished, Caroline looked back at Bonnie.

"Do you need me to do-." Bonnie was already chanting a spell.

"Right. Okay." Caroline and I backed away. A wind picked up, almost knocking us off our feet. Stuff started flying around. Caroline and I ducked down into a crouching position.

"Bonnie, I don't like this! Bonnie…" Caroline said. We looked over.

"Is that your-." I started, seeing her grandmother in front of her. Bonnie looked at her.

"Grams?" There was a pause.

"I can't believe you're here!" Bonnie cried.

"Now stop your crying, we don't have times for tears." Mrs. Bennett told her. She looked over at Caroline and me.

"Nice to see you again, Beth, Caroline." Caroline waved.

"Hi, Miss Sheila." She looked back at Bonnie.

"A fine mess you've made, honey. The witches told you there'd be consequences to bring Jeremy back and you did it anyway."

"It was my fault! I loved him! I couldn't loose him!" I yelled. She looked at me again.

"I understand." She looked back at Bonnie.

"But you cracked open the door to the Other Side. There's an old witch over here. She took advantage of it. She took advantage of you, honey. When you did that spell to send Vicki Donovan away, she wedged the door wide open. Giving a free pass to anybody with unfinished business."

"How do you even know this?" Bonnie asked.

"Witches talk. Even on the other side. Who do you think makes all the rules?"

"What does the witch want?" Bonnie asked.

"That's original vampire business, not yours. I don't want you getting in the middle of that. I'm here because you upset the balance of nature. And it's your duty to set it right. You need to close that door. The old witch is can draw power from this side because of her talisman. Elena's necklace."

* * *

While Caroline talked to Elena over the phone, I tried to call Damon, but he wouldn't answer. Once she ended her call and I gave up trying to reach Damon, Caroline and I went back down into the basement.

"Elena can't find the necklace and we can't reach Damon." Caroline informed Bonnie.

"We'll find the necklace and be back." I promised Bonnie.

* * *

We went to the boarding house first to search for it there. Caroline searched through the living room while I searched through Stefan's room. Apparently Caroline was comfortable going through everything Stefan owned. I was held back by no such moral. We met by the door when we couldn't find it.

"We'll do a more thorough search. Check everywhere." I said. She nodded in agreement.

"Elena says that Lexi is helping Stefan so she wants to hold off sending all the ghosts back." Caroline told me, holding up her phone as a silent 'she just called' explanation.

"Let's just find it first." I said.

"Yeah, then we'll decide between boyfriend dramas." She agreed. We were halfway up the stairs when I stopped and looked back at Caroline.

"What did you just say?" I asked. Her eyes widened.

"Um… Lexi's helping Stefan-."

"No, you said boyfriend dramas. Plural. What is it, Caroline?"

"Beth… Elena caught Jeremy kissing Anna."

"What?" I choked out. I felt like a stake had just been shoved through my heart, though, on second though, that might be a more merciful fate than this.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"He kissed her?" I asked. She nodded and hugged me. I let myself cry a little as I hugged her back. She pulled away, hands on my shoulders, and stared me in the eye.

"She's got a foothold now. She thinks that she's here to stay. But you and I, Beth, we're going to find that necklace and send her back to the Other Side!" She told me. I ran a hand through my hair, trying to stop my crying. She shook me to get my attention.

"Okay?" She asked. I nodded, though I was anything but okay.

* * *

We searched everyone, including Damon's bathroom. Caroline threw the soap bars back into the soap dish with a disgusted groan.

"It's not anywhere in this room!" She announced. My phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket. It was Jeremy. I looked at Caroline.

"I got it. Don't worry, Beth; your best friend in the whole wide world Caroline will handle this!" She assured me. She took my phone and answered it for me.

"What do you want, Jeremy?!" She demanded. I listened in on what he was saying.

"_Caroline? Where's Beth? Did you find that necklace?_"

"Not yet. What's going on?"

"_Ghosts of tomb vampires killed Tobias Fell. You might want to find that necklace before they start going alphabetically through the founding families!_"

"Well, it's not where it's supposed to be. Unless someone took it. Hint, hint: you're dead girlfriend!"

"_Anna said she didn't!_"

"And you believe her?"

"_You know what? Yeah, yeah, I do believe her!_" Caroline looked at me as she listened to Jeremy. I was trying to silently cry, though I wasn't quite managing it. Obviously Jeremy trusted Anna more than me now… It hurt like heck. Her eyes blazed with anger.

"You know what, Jeremy?! You're an even bigger idiot than I thought! Beth knows you made out with Anna! Elena saw, she told me and I told her because she's my _best friend_ and I don't want you hurting her anymore than you already have! Wake up before you lose everything!" She hung up on him and slammed my phone down onto the counter top.

"He is not hurting you anymore! If he does, I'll… I'll… I'll tell him where he can shove it!" She said. I half smiled at her. She smiled widely.

"See? Get over him. It's Jeremy. Not like he was a rock-star boyfriend to begin with. It's not here. Let's go." She grabbed my phone, took my hand and we hurried out to her car. She threw me the keys as my phone rang again.

"You drive. It's Jeremy. I'll handle it." We climbed into the car as she answered the phone. I didn't even listen in this time; I didn't want to hear it. A minute later, Caroline hung up as I turned onto another street.

"Jeremy's got the necklace. Anna took it. Little ghostly pain in the butt…. But he's going to meet us at the witch house." She told me.

"Okay. What's going on there?" I asked as I stopped the car. Mrs. Lockwood's car was against a tree, the tomb vampire ghosts heading towards her.

"I'm going to get out of the car."

"What?!" I demanded.

"Beth, you have your ghost boyfriend drama. Elena has hers. And right now the mother of mine is about to be ghost bait. So you get to Bonnie and make sure they get sent back to the other side, okay?"

"Bonnie can do it by herself! I'm not leaving you! Best friends, remember?" I asked.

"Beth! The ghosts don't want to go back! That means you need to get to Bonnie and protect her!" She reminded me. I couldn't argue with the logic in that; I'd already had to hold Vicki back. She climbed out of the car and headed for the ghosts. I drove towards the abandoned house. When I got there, Jeremy was just walking in with the necklace in hand.

"Beth-."

"Give it." I grabbed the necklace and vamp sped downstairs. I handed it to Bonnie and she started a spell. I came back upstairs. I heard people outside.

"Stay here. Protect Bonnie if any get through!" I told him.

"Beth-." He started again. But I walked out before he could finish. I recognized the pack of werewolves from our fight to get Caroline back from them. The one that had almost killed Damon grinned at me.

"The witch is trying to send us back, right? Well, this is going to be fun." He said. He lunged at me. I ducked out of the way, grabbed him when he hit the ground and strangled him. Two more of them grabbed me and pulled me off. I kicked until they let me go. I hit the ground hard. The man leaned over me.

"We were never introduced. I'm Brady." He stuck his hand into my chest, reaching for my heart. I screamed. Suddenly he disappeared as did all the other werewolves. I gasped in relief and just lied there, healing. I heard someone come out and I stood up.

"Beth, are you okay?!" Jeremy asked. Having him this close to me hurt even more than Brady's hand in my chest. I folded my arms across my chest.

"Just go away, Jeremy." I told him.

"I owe you an explanation." He said. I snapped and slapped him, hard. He almost fell to the ground, but I didn't slap him hard enough as I would do to vampires.

"Matt let go of his sister before you let go of Anna, Jeremy! His sister! I don't think I could let go of Damon or Stefan, but you couldn't let go of Anna even after that? You know what you owe me, Jeremy? The respect of not making me listen to your excuses. You kissed her. There's nothing else to explain unless you start throwing out excuses."

"I'm sorry, Beth." He said.

"You need to stay away from me."

"But-."

"Just stay away from me, Jeremy." I darted away before he could protest anymore. I got back to the boarding house, slammed the front door and slumped down against it. Then I cried. I felt dizzy and… honestly scared. I couldn't believe that he had done that to me. I was hurt, betrayed… alone. The door opened and I fell over. Caroline shut the door again after scurrying inside.

"Sorry!" She gasped. I stood up.

"I'm sorry about Jeremy too." She hugged me and I cried into her shoulder.

"I know you probably feel alone…. You're not. You have Damon, you have Elena, you have Bonnie, you have Matt, you have Stefan once he's back to his old self once again… You have me! Okay?" I nodded against her shoulder. I knew I had all of them… They just didn't amount to what Jeremy had meant to me.

* * *

**A/N Yeah, I know that all Beth-Jeremy supporters hated that! Trust me, it was hard for me to write! **


	8. Ordinary People

Alaric led Elena and me into the tunnels beneath the Lockwood property. Apparently the tunnels led to something very important.

"So the Lockwood's really have no idea that these tunnels are underneath their property?" Elena asked, shining her flashlight around.

"Careful where you shine that thing. Bats hate light." I warned.

"What?!"

"Elena!" She jumped when Damon appeared behind her.

"Damon!" She gasped.

"Ignore him." I suggested.

"It's what I do." Alaric said in agreement.

"So you really can't get in?" Elena asked Damon as we walked on.

"No. It seems even the _ancient_ Lockwood's were anti-vampire."

"See for yourself." Elena walked into the cave. Damon and I had to stay outside; like we weren't invited in. Alaric went in after Elena.

"What is all this?" Elena asked, looking at all the drawings on the walls.

"Well, as far as I can tell, it's a story. In simple archaeological terms, it's a really, really old story. That right there is a moon cycle, a man and a wolf." Alaric explained.

"A werewolf." Elena put it together.

"Yeah, it's the Lockwood Diaries: Pictionary Style." Damon said.

"I don't understand. I thought the Lockwood's came here with the Original founders in the 1860's?" Elena asked.

"I don't know. Maybe the Lockwood's did. But according to this wall, these werewolves have been here a lot longer than that." Alaric told her.

"How long?"

"Long. It gets better. Show her, Ric." Damon said.

"Names. They're not native. They're written in Runic, a Viking script." Alaric went on.

"Vikings?" Elena echoed.

"This name here, I translated it and it reads Niklaus." Alaric told her.

"Klaus." She gasped.

"And Elijah…. And Rebekah…" Alaric went on.

"These are the names of the Original family?" Elena asked.

"Carved into a cave that's been here since way before the founding of MysticFalls or even the entire New World for that matter." Alaric agreed.

"So it has to be another one of Klaus's fakes." I said.

"That's what I said." Damon said with a smirk.

"That could be true, except the last name up here made me think otherwise." Alaric said.

"What's the name?" I asked, annoyed I couldn't see.

"Mikael." Alaric responded.

"Mikael, as in, the vampire hunter that knows how to kill Klaus?" Elena asked. I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Damon looked over at me.

"Yep. I now like to call him… Papa Original."

* * *

We were at Alaric's apartment. I sat at the table with Alaric and all the pictures he'd taken of the cave. Damon was helping Elena with her combat training.

"These images tell a story, right? To learn the story, you have to decipher these images." I said, looking through all the pictures. I glanced at Damon and Elena. Damon easily disarmed Elena.

"Sloppy!" He accused.

"Shut up, I'm new at this!" She grabbed the stake back.

"'Ghost of Christmas Past' Mason Lockwood set up the cave and lead us to a weapon that can kill Klaus." Damon said, playfully shoving Elena.

"Yeah, but doesn't Mikael have the weapon?" Elena asked.

"Yes, which means the wall will probably lead us to Mikael, who we already found and Katherine lost." I said. Damon disarmed Elena, darted behind her and playfully nibbled on her neck.

"Bang! You're dead!" She shoved him away.

"These images at the very least might tell us what the weapon is." Alaric said.

"Then all we have to do is find out what they mean." Elena said, coming over to the table followed by Damon, who stood behind my chair.

"Fine! If I am being irritatingly optimistic like you three… Wait, two. You're being grumpy, Beth. How are we supposed to do that?" Damon asked.

"Well, if the story is about the Original family living here… We go to the source." Elena suggested, obviously referring to Rebekah. My phone rang. I saw it was Jeremy and hit 'ignore call' without hesitation. Damon looked at me.

"Why are you ignoring your boyfriend?" He asked. Elena and Alaric both looked between us and then focused on me, confused.

"You didn't tell him?" Alaric asked.

"Tell me what?" Damon demanded.

"Jeremy cheated on me with Anna. Elena caught them making out when all the ghosts were out to play. I told him to stay away from me." I explained shortly.

"Okay… I have a job to do." He started to walk away, but I darted in front of him. '

"Stay away from Jeremy." I told him. He smirked.

"Still protective of him, I see."

"Stay away from Jeremy." I repeated. I went back to the table. He and Elena left, though he mumbled something that sounded like a cuss word mixed with 'fine' as he walked out.

* * *

Later that day, Elena returned to Alaric's apartment. She had just hung up on Damon when she came into the apartment. We both looked at her.

"Rebekah will come around." She said confidently.

"Yeah, because there's no way a thousand year old vampire has learned the art of patience…" I muttered sarcastically. She looked down at her phone.

"She's a thousand year old vampire who's joined the cheerleading squad… There's a whole new set of rules that play here, Beth. I got this." She hurried out again. I flopped down on one of the chairs again. Alaric looked at me.

"Listen, Beth, Jeremy is an idiot. And I know this with certainty because I was once a Jeremy. Trust me, he'll learn. Eventually." He assured me. I smiled at him weakly. He passed a picture over to me and I took it.

"Does that look familiar?" He asked.

"It looks like Elena's necklace." I said, turning it over and trying to decide if it was upside down or not. He nodded in agreement.

"So Bonnie's grandmother said that this necklace belonged to the witch that put the hybrid curse on Klaus… This symbol is repeated all across the wall. I've been trying to figure out what it means." Alaric said.

"I know what it means… Witch."

"And this looks like it should been hybrid, right?" He asked, passing another photo to me. I nodded in agreement. He put most of the photos on the counter and spread out the rest in a line. There was post it notes on all of the photos saying the meaning of the drawings.

"This is the story of the Original Witch's death…" I said, looking at them.

"And who killed her?" Alaric asked, rhetorically, shaking his head.

"The hybrid killed the original witch… Klaus killed his own mother." My phone rang. I saw it was Damon and I answered it, stepping away.

"What do you want, Damon?"

"_Something… interesting happened_."

"Tell me you didn't kill Jeremy!?" I cried. Alaric spun around, looking at me in shock. I heard Damon huff on the other end of the phone.

"_No! Not yet. But he broke your heart, Beth. It's kind of your big brother's job to deal with him for you._" He reminded me.

"What happened, Damon?" I asked, ignoring his previous comment.

"_Mikael happened_."


	9. Homecoming

Elena, Damon, semi-good-guy again Stefan and I were in the living room of the boarding house. Stefan and Damon stood while Elena and I sat on the couch.

"So Mikael's really going to help us kill Klaus?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Btu we have to have a cover story for when I call Klaus to tell him that Mikael's been daggered. Let's say that Mikael followed Elena in here. He tried to grab her so he could use her as bait." Stefan explained.

"And you what? Vervained him?" Elena asked.

"No. _We_ Vervained him. He's an Original, make it realistic. Beth and I almost took down Klaus before, so Stefan, Beth and I together could realistically Vervain Mikael." Damon corrected.

"Okay, fine. We Vervained him and in the process discovered he had a dagger." Stefan went on.

"Which he planned to use on Rebekah, but instead…" Elena added.

"We drove it through his heart." I finished.

"What happens when he asks to see Mikael's body?" Elena asked.

"Good point. Stefan's been compelled to do what Klaus says. So the idea is to lure him back here and kill him. We can't have Stefan getting tongue tied." I agreed.

"Well don't look at me! I'm just in charge of luring him back here." Stefan said.

"Klaus is a smart little pain in the backside. He'll want proof if we say that Mikael's dead." I said.

"Then I shall be dead." I jumped, falling off the couch. Mikael stood in the doorway to the living room. He gave me a disapproving look.

"Well, as long as you're a brave soul." He said sarcastically.

"I was surprised, not scared!" I snapped. He walked into the room.

"What if he wants to see you in person?" Elena asked.

"Well, that means our plan is working. Klaus will absolutely want to see my body. You lure him here and I will kill him." Mikael said.

"With what, exactly? Those magic daggers don't work on him." I reminded him, standing up and folding my arms across my chest.

"I am in possession of a stake fashioned from the wood of the ancient white oak tree. The one that left the ashes when it burned."

"Where is it?" Stefan asked.

"Not here. The knowing of it's location is my insurance policy."

"Against what?" Damon asked.

"You leaving this in my heart. You see, a vampire can't dagger an Original without dying. So it falls to you." He handed a dagger to Elena.

"You want me to actually dagger you?" She asked, shocked.

"Klaus will nothing to chance, especially when it comes to trust."

* * *

At the Gilbert house, Elena stood in front of her closet, going through her clothes. I sat on her bed, going through some of the photos of the cave.

"I hate my closet. I have nothing to wear to Homecoming." She complained.

"So don't go. We can stay home, order takeout and over analyze these." I suggested, holding up the photos. She flopped down beside me.

"We have to go. Caroline will kill us!"

"Caroline actually has a date. It's different."

"You know you can talk to be about Jeremy, right?" She asked, trying to catch my eyes. I frowned; not liking this new subject.

"I don't need to talk about it, Elena. He fell in love with his ghost girlfriend, obviously loves her more than me, and then lied about it. What's done is done." I said. I ignored the fact that my voice caught on the word 'loves' and hoped that Elena would too.

"You have to talk about it, Beth. He's your first serious boyfriend ever. And considering you a hundred and fifty plus year old girl, that's pretty serious. He hurt, Beth. I'm mad at him too."

"You're mad at your brother. You'll yell at him a little, teach him a life lesson. You can't really be mad at him like I'm mad at him. Trust me, I have _two_ brothers. I know." I told her.

"Beth-."

"And you shouldn't have to be. He's your brother. I can't imagine _having _to be mad at Stefan or Damon because they hurt you. So, no, I can't really talk to you about it."

* * *

I stood in the living room of the Salvatore boarding house, talking to Caroline on the phone. Elena was sitting on the couch behind me.

"So, since the gym is flooded, that means I don't have to go?" I asked hopefully.

"_You wish, you anti-social little vampire! Tyler is moving the party to his house, so you come over here, okay?_" She asked.

"Kegs and beerpong for homecoming? Awesome." I said sarcastically.

"_Just say you're coming?!_"

"Fine! I'll see you there."

"_That would be the correct answer. Bye!_"

"Bye." I hung up.

* * *

I hung close to Stefan as we made our way through the crowd at Tyler's house. I wasn't in homecoming attire unless jeans, a pale pink tank top, a black leather biker jacket and black leather boots counted. But then again, this really wasn't homecoming.

"Hey, Stefan, Beth, what's up?" We turned towards Tyler. I kept my arm hooked in Stefan's, a sort of leash to keep him close by.

"Hey, Tyler. Nice party considering the time you had to prepare." I told him. He shrugged.

"Thanks, but I'm not throwing it, I'm just doing what Klaus wants."

"What do you mean?" Stefan demanded, instantly confused.

"It's not party, man, it's a wake." Klaus went up on the stage. We all turned towards him as the crowded cheered loudly for him.

"Good evening everyone. I want to thank you for being here with me to celebrate! This has been a long time coming!"

* * *

After Stefan had a talk with Klaus, he went back to the boarding house. I hurried to find Caroline, who was hiding out in a corner to avoid Klaus.

"Is Jeremy here?" I asked.

"Whoa! You don't go back to him!" She protested.

"I want to make sure he doesn't get hurt, I'm not looking for a dance with him!" I told her.

"Oh. No, he's not here." She assured me. I left her, looking for Tyler. If he was sired to Klaus, I need him out of here so that he didn't screw anything up. Someone grabbed me, throwing me into an empty room. I looked up at someone I didn't recognize.

"Klaus said to take care of you. I'm a hybrid. You don't stand a chance." He said.

"Did he now? Well, that'll be a problem." I darted forward and knocked him to the ground. I got my hands around his neck, but he threw me off. He grabbed me by the throat instead and threw me out the window. I landed on a pile of shattered glass outside the house. A hand came into view to help me up. I looked at Mikael and took his hand. He pulled me to my feet as the hybrid came out after me. Mikael thrust his hand into the hybrid's chest and ripped his heart out.

"Well, that's taken care of." He said cheerfully.

"There are more of them. A lot more." I warned.

"I know. Go around the house to the porch. I'll be there. You and Katherine will take care of the hybrids." He told me. I nodded in agreement and hurried off. I went around the large house. By the time I was on the porch, Damon had stabbed Klaus in the stomach with the white oak stake. Mikael was waiting outside, unable to enter since he wasn't invited inside the house. There was a small army of hybrids approaching. Katherine handed me a Wolfsbane grenade.

"Kaboom!" She said. We pulled the pins and threw them at the hybrids. We turned back towards Klaus. Stefan was holding Damon down so he was unable to fight Klaus. Klaus grabbed the white oak stake and leapt towards Mikael. He stabbed Mikael through the heart.

"No!" I yelled as Mikael died, flames engulfing his body. Klaus darted to me, grabbing me by the throat while Stefan down Damon. Katherine had already run for the hills.

"Elijah cares about you more than you know…. It'd be pity to have to kill you… But you tried to kill me." His grip tightened on my throat. I struggled for a breath that I couldn't get.

"Don't try to cross me again." He threw me off the porch and I landed hard on the ground. Klaus went back to Stefan.

"You're free." He uncompelled Stefan. Damon came and took my arm. We darted back to the Salvatore boarding house. Elena was waiting for us in the living room. Damon explained everything while I sat on the couch, wallowing in my misery about the failure of the night.

"How did this happen?" Elena asked after Damon explained.

"We thought of everything, Elena! Klaus having hybrids. We brought Katherine in so that you weren't in danger! Anything that could have gone wrong we were prepared!" I got up and walked into my bedroom. Stefan was truly gone if he was _helping_ keep Klaus alive. My phone rang. I pulled it out of my jacket pocket. It was Jeremy. I was too screwed up right now to ignore him.

"Hey." I said as I answered.

"_Beth? You actually answered!_"

"Can I come over?" I asked.

"_YEAH!_" He sounded extremely excited. I hung up and darted to his house. I snuck into his bedroom through the window. He was just putting down his phone. He grinned.

"Beth, I-."

"No. I'm far too screwed up to have to listen to your excuses." I interrupted.

"What happened? Whoa, what happened to your neck? You have bruises all over." He came over and ran his fingers over the bruises on my neck.

"Jeremy… Stefan might really be gone." I was crying now. Jeremy's face was full of expression.

"Stefan did this to you?" I shook my head.

"No, he just held Damon back while Klaus did." I told him. I hugged him and cried. He held me close and let me cry.


	10. The New Deal

**A/N I hope you guys like this episode/chapter. **

* * *

I was at the bar in the Grill, trying to convince Damon to come home instead of drinking himself half to death. Alaric walked up to us.

"Beth, bad question, but have you seen Jeremy?" He asked me.

"Come drink with me!" Damon offered.

"This may come as a shock, Damon, but I'm not here to hang out with you. I'm here to see Jeremy. Who is an hour late to his shift…"

"I might have gone to his house last night… So he probably over slept." I said. Damon put his shot glass down and looked over at me.

"Rule number one of dating, little sis: never go back to them. Especially Jeremy. You could do better." He told me. I glared at him.

"Shut up." I told him. I looked over at Alaric.

"Why do you need Jeremy?" I asked.

"His midterm paper was copied straight off the internet. Didn't even try to hide it." He muttered.

"Ooh! Someone's getting grounded." Damon said with a smirk. I smacked him upside the head. A waitress stopped beside us.

"Did you say you're waiting for Jeremy as in Jeremy Gilbert?" She asked.

"Yeah." Alaric said with a nod.

"He was fired last week." She walked off. Damon smirked again.

"Oops." Elena walked up and heard the last bit.

"He was fired?" She asked, coming around to the other side of me and pulling out her cell phone.

"Yep." Damon said with a smirk. Elena looked at me.

"Beth." I smacked him upside the head again, harder this time. She called Jeremy, but he didn't answer, so she just left a message.

"Jeremy, the minute you get this, call me!"

"You are feisty when you're mad." Damon said.

"I'm not mad. I'm worried."

"What for, Elena? He lost his job at the Grill. He'll survive." Damon said, getting another drink. As if he wasn't drunk enough already…

"He's spiraling. Ever since Beth broke up with him, he's moody, he's not really talking to anyone." She looked at me, suddenly remembering I was here.

"Sorry." She said, chewing on her lip. I nodded.

"Trust me, I know what he's going through. Give me that before anyone sees me." I took Damon's shot and downed it, hoping no one saw.

"He's a typical teenager, dealing with a hot, un-replaceable girl that broke up with him because he was an idiot." Damon assured her, patting my shoulder for emphasis.

"Who's seeing ghosts and has lost everyone he cares about." She added, glaring at him.

"Not everyone. He still has you. And Beth paid him a late night visit last night." Damon said, giving me a suggestive look that earned him yet another smack.

"Don't mind me." We turned to Klaus in shock as he walked over to the bar.

"You're going to do this in the Grill? In front of everyone? Little beneath you, isn't it?" Damon asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just came down to my local pup to grab a drink with a mate. Get a round in, would you Tony?"

"I'm surprised you stuck around long enough for happy hour." I told him. He smirked at me.

"Well, my sister seems to be missing. Need to sort that out." He told me.

"Cute blonde bombshell?" Damon asked.

"Physco. Shouldn't be hard to find." I added.

"Truth is, I've grown to rather like this town. I think I might fancy a home here. Oh, I imagine your wondering how does this effect you. The answer is: not in the slightest. As long as I get what I want and everyone behaves themselves you can go on living your little lives however you choose. You have my word."

"What more could you possibly want?" Elena asked.

"Well, for starters, you can tell me where I might find Stefan."

"Stefan skipped town the second he saved your sorry butt." I told him.

"Well, you see, that's a real shame. Your brother stole from me. I need him found so I can take back what's mine." Klaus told us.

"That sounds like a Klaus-Stefan problem." Elena said. Klaus moved towards Elena and me. Damon got between Klaus and us.

"Well, this is me broadening the scope, sweetheart."

* * *

Later that day, when I was in a booth at the Grill when my phone rang. I saw it was Elena and answered it.

"Hey, what's up?"

"_Klaus compelled Jeremy._"

"To do what?" I demanded, getting up.

"_Stand in front of a speeding car without his ring. He's fine. Alaric got hit instead. There was a hybrid driving the car, so the ring should bring him back. Please get over here!_"

"Be there in a second!" I hung up and hurried out of the Grill. When I saw no one was watching, I darted to the Giblet house and hurried inside. Alaric's body was on the couch, Elena and Jeremy gathered around it. I hurried over to Jeremy and he turned to me. I slapped him.

"Beth!" Elena protested.

"Why weren't you wearing Vervain? Where's your bracelet?" I demanded.

"I don't know." He said, holding his cheek painfully. I might have slapped him a little harder than I'd meant to…

"It was Tyler. It had to have been. That why he was hanging around you. To get the Vervain off you!" Elena told him. Damon walked into the house.

"Klaus is trying to send us a message. He wants us to find Stefan, who stole his coffins full of his dead family members." He explained.

"Coffins?" Elena echoed.

"Yep. So all we have to do is find one coffin and viola no one else on your family Christmas list needs to die!"

"Wait, that's your big plan? To steal back four dead Originals so this evil hybrid doesn't kill me and everyone else?" Jeremy asked.

"It's a better plan than just letting you get compelled to kill yourself." I snapped. I went out onto the porch and he followed me.

"So you dumped me but-." I spun around and interrupted him.

"But I still care about you? Yes, Jeremy! I love you! Why do you need to hear me say it?! I 'dumped' you because you made out with Anna and I don't want to date someone that will betray me that easily!" I told him.

"Beth, you know I didn't mean to."

"It doesn't matter, Jeremy!"

"Yes it does! I made a mistake and I have had to deal with that!" He told me, obviously pissed off.

"So have I! I have had to deal with the fact that the boy I love cheated on me. I have to deal with how much it hurts to miss you!" He stopped me by kissing me. I let him, even kissing him back as he hands found their way under my t-shirt. The door opened and Damon stepped out.

"No." He said simply, looking coldly at Jeremy as we pulled away from each other. Elena came out behind him, pulling the door shut.

"'No' wh-." Then Elena saw me with Jeremy, who had decided to keep his hands up my shirt. I pushed him away, embarrassed.

"Oh. We're going to see Bonnie. Can one of you keep an eye on Ric?"

"Yeah, sure." I said quickly. She gave us one last look before she and Damon hurried off. Once they were gone, Jeremy looked at me.

"I love you." He whispered. He tried to kiss me again, but I put my hands on his chest to stop him.

"I love you too, Jeremy. That's the problem." I ducked back into the house and went to sit by the couch to wait for Alaric to wake up.

* * *

I woke up from where'd I fallen asleep on the floor when Alaric woke up, gasping for air. I jumped to my feet and offered him my hand as he stood up.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Great." I was pretty sure that was sarcasm. Elena walked into the house.

"Ric! You're awake." She said.

"Yeah… How's Jeremy?" He asked.

"Hating me. Hating life. Lovingly hating Beth for what happened between them. Hating the fact that we can't have a family dinner without someone dying before desert." She explained. Suddenly Ric started coughing up blood. He collapsed on the floor and Elena and I ran to him.

"Something's wrong… The ring…" He sputtered before coughing up more blood. I threw my phone at Elena, not even looking to see if she'd caught it or if I'd just hit her with it.

"Call 911." I told her. She did and a few minutes later, she was letting the paramedics in.

"What happened?" One of them demanded.

"He got hit by a car and he's coughing up blood." Elena said as we both stepped aside to let them get to Alaric.

"Get his vitals."

"His pulse is pretty weak. Looks like internal bleeding. We gotta get him outta here. Let's move!"

"Let's not and say we did." We turned to the new voice. The hybrid that had been with Klaus at the bar was standing in the doorway.

"Why don't you too meet us at the hospital?" The paramedics walked out, obviously under compulsion. Ric started coughing again.

"I'm right here, Ric, I'm right here!" Elena said, kneeling down beside him.

"You can still save him, Elena. Here, take my blood…. But wait, I'm not invited in yet." The hybrid said with a smirk similar to Klaus's.

"No! Why are you doing this?" I growled, showing him my fangs.

"Klaus asked for his family. You didn't deliver. Might want to invite me in, Elena…" The hybrid said. Suddenly he fell onto the porch, an arrow in his back. Jeremy hurried into the house and passed the crossbow off to me.

"Jeremy?!" Elena asked in shock.

"Keep him down." Jeremy told me. He hurried into the kitchen and returned with a large knife. He went back out and cut off the hybrid's head.

"Now he's dead." Jeremy announced, coming back into the house with splattered blood on his face.

"We have to get Alaric to the hospital, now!"

* * *

Later that night, after Alaric was in the hands of doctors at the hospital, I helped Elena scrub the blood off the porch, though it left a faint stain there no matter what we did to it. After we were done, I went upstairs to Jeremy's room.

"Hey, Jeremy… You okay?" I asked.

"Stop regarding me like I'm a physco. I chopped off a dude's head. Normal Sunday." He told me. I went over and sat down next to him on his bed.

"Um… Normal isn't really in my dictionary anymore." I admitted. He half smiled.

"About earlier…" He started.

"When we made out?" I blurted out.

"Yeah, then… You said that being in love with me was the problem…"

"Jeremy… I still love you, okay? I just know that I shouldn't love you _this_ much." I whispered. Elena poked her head into the room.

"Hey, can we talk, Jeremy?"

"What did I do now?" He whined.

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier. About how we should pack up and go…"

"Elena, I didn't mean that." While they were talking, I had gotten up and drifted to the doorway and Elena had walked over to him.

"But you were right. You shouldn't have to give up a normal life, just because of me." Damon came into the room. Jeremy and I grasped what was going to happen at the same time.

"You can't compel him!" I protested while Jeremy hung his head, apparently just accepting that he was about to have his mind messed with.

"Beth, come here." Alaric came into the room as he said it and took my arm. He pulled me out of the room and down into the living room. I yanked my arm back.

"You can't compel him!" I repeated.

"This is for the better. We're sending him to Denver to live with some family friends. He'll be away from all this supernatural stuff. He'll be in a new school, meet new girls. Living girls. And-." He stopped when he realized he'd said that part about girls out loud.

"Yeah. I can think of a lot of girls that would be better for him." I agreed in a whisper.

"I didn't mean it like that." He said quickly.

"No, I think we both know that's exactly how you meant it, Alaric… It's fine. It's true." I hurried out of the house and darted back to the boarding house. I went into my bedroom and slammed the door behind me. I collapsed on the other side, slumping against it. Then I cried. I almost laughed at myself through my tears. I'd been crying a lot lately. Jeremy made me cry. Now he was going out of town, some place where I would probably never seen him again… And I couldn't help but feel alone.


	11. Our Town

**A/N I hope you guys like this chapter. Please review. **

* * *

I handed Elena a balloon as we decorated Caroline's locker for her birthday. Elena sighed as she taped on a balloon to Caroline's locker.

"I know you're mad at me. I feel bad about having Damon compel him too-." She started.

"Obviously not bad enough." I snapped.

"I think he'll have a better life there." I saw him behind her at his own locker, packing it up, and hurried over. He looked over at me as he shut his locker.

"Were you going to say goodbye?" I asked.

"I thought you didn't care. Or was it that you cared _too_ much?" He asked. I sighed.

"I don't want you to leave town, Jeremy!" I told him.

"I think I'll have a better life there."

"That's exactly what Elena said…" I said.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. I'm just sorry you're leaving. Jeremy." I said. I hurried off, scowling. It was like he didn't even known he had been compelled.

* * *

Elena, Matt, Bonnie and I waited out of sight in Caroline's house after she didn't show up at school. When she walked into the house, we all jumped out.

"Happy birthday!"

"Change into warmer clothes. We're going to the falls. S'mores. Camp fire…" I said.

"Cake!" Bonnie cried.

"Thanks, guys. Really…. But I'm not feeling my birthday this year." She said.

"You've already claimed your birthday as everyone's favorite day of the year." Elena reminded her.

"Yeah and now it's a reminder that technically, I'm dead. Look, I didn't even like seventeen. And the only point was of being seventeen was to get to eighteen. It was a filler year. I'm stuck in a filler year!" She complained.

"You're not stuck, Caroline!" I protested, going over and putting an arm around her shoulders. Elena sighed and walked over to her too.

"I think I have another idea."

* * *

We entered in the Salvatore Crypt.

"This is creepy, even for us." Bonnie complained.

"No, Caroline was right. Technically, she's dead. Sorry. But you don't need a birthday, you need a funeral. You need to say goodbye to your old life so that you can move on to your new one." Elena said as she opened the box with the birthday cake in it.

"Okay… Here lies Caroline Forbes…" Caroline started.

"Miss Mystic Falls, cheerleader, best friend…" I went on.

"Third grade hopscotch champion!" Elena added, making her laugh.

"Daughter, overachiever…" Bonnie added.

"Mean girl, sometimes, no offense." Matt said.

"She was seventeen. She had a really good life. So rest in peace, so that she can move on." I finished. Bonnie lit the candles on the cake with her powers.

"Okay, make a wish!" Elena said, holding out the cake. Caroline closed her eyes for a second and then blew out the candles.

* * *

We were eating the birthday cake while we sat on the old stone benches. Matt had the bottle of tequila and Elena grabbed it from him.

"I need it more than you do. Caroline, what are you doing?" Elena asked. Caroline stopped texting and looked up, trying to act natural.

"I might have texted Tyler…"

"Caroline!" Elena cried.

"What?! I'm delicate!"

"Give her a break! You can't control what _everyone_ does _all the time_, Elena!" I snapped at her.

"Wow." Elena said, taken back, as she should have been.

"Ouch, Beth…" Matt muttered from beside me.

"Sorry, Caroline, I know it's your birthday but I have to say this. Elena: I hate the fact that you compelled Jeremy to leave town." I told her.

"I'm doing it to protect him! I want to give him a chance to live a normal life!" Elena said.

"He should be able to live his life he wants it! You're taking his choices away!"

"Beth, you can't tell him!"

"What are you going to do, Elena? You can't compel me like you compelled him!" By now, Elena and I were both standing up.

"You guys are ruining a perfectly good funeral." Bonnie tried to interject. We both ignored her.

"I didn't want to compel him-." She started.

"YES YOU DID! You should have just left him alone!" I yelled.

"WHAT LIFE COULD HE HAVE HAD WITH _YOU_!" She yelled back. I was silent for a second and then when I did speak, I said it quietly.

"You are such a hypocrite. You're a human dating a vampire, but I can't date a human? I can't date your brother when you're screwing with both of mine?" I asked. She slapped me, harder than I expected from a human. Caroline jumped up her bench with a sharp 'Elena!' of protest. Bonnie and Matt were slowly backing away from, not wanting to get involved in this one. I looked at Elena.

"Good to know where we stand." I told her. I looked at Caroline.

"Happy birthday or death-day or whatever… But I can't stay here anymore." I hurried out of the crypt, ignoring the argument going on between Caroline and Elena behind me.

* * *

The next morning I went to the Gilbert house for the sole purpose of seeing Jeremy off. Elena and Jeremy were just pulling away from a hug when I came to the open door.

"Good, you haven't left yet." I said. He smiled at me. I gave Elena a meaningful look. She left the room. I hurried over to Jeremy to hug him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I came to say goodbye." I told him. We hugged. I relished the feeling of his arms around me one last time. Then we pulled away. Jeremy grabbed his bags. Elena came back into the room.

"Bye, Jer." She said. He nodded, smiled and went out to the car. Elena looked at me.

"Last night, I shouldn't have slapped you." She said awkwardly.

"Last night, I should have slapped you." I returned with a cold glare. I hurried out of the house and towards the boarding house again.

* * *

**A/N And Jeremy is gone! But in the next couple episodes, Elijah returns and the Original's awaken, so Beth's romantic life isn't over yet... **


	12. The Ties That Bind

**A/N Hey, I was going to update this morning, but the internet decided to stay down for a long time. Anyway, here's the newest chapter/episode of The Vampire Diaries Season Three**

* * *

I stood with Stefan in the abandoned witch house, surrounded by four coffins holding other Originals. I opened Elijah's coffin and fingered the dagger.

"Don't." He warned. I gritted my teeth and shut the coffin again after one last look at Elijah. I turned back to Stefan.

"So why did you bring me in now of all times?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

"Damon's in on it. Figured I'd let you in as long as you can behave yourself." He replied.

"Don't pretend like you just flipped the switch." I snapped. He looked at me, narrowing his eyes.

"I did." I just shook my head at him.

"No, you didn't."

* * *

We went back to the boarding house together. I jumped when Klaus was in our living room, looking all comfortable in an arm chair.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked. I followed him into the living room.

"Enjoying our stalemate."

"What do you want?" I asked. He pretended it had been Stefan that had spoken.

"The question is: what do you want? My hybrids left down as you demanded, so please tell me what I need to do to get my family back."

"Why would you want them? You're just going to stick him back in a box." I hadn't meant to say 'him' instead of 'them' but Klaus looked amused at that. He stood up.

"Right… I almost forgot about your cute little relationship with my brother Elijah, Miss Salvatore…" He said with a smirk. He darted forward and grabbed me by the throat, crushing my neck in an iron grip. I clawed at his hand as he pushed my back against the wall.

"Stefan… If you don't give me my family back, I'll kill your dearest little sister." His grip tightened on my throat and lifted me off the ground.

"You wouldn't."

"Yes, right… Crazy Stefan… Don't care about anything. Any friends left?" He asked. He let me go. I crumpled to the floor, coughing. Klaus left. Stefan didn't spare me a look as he walked out of the room. He went out of the house too and Klaus returned as I got to my feet. I tensed, waiting for him to hurt me again.

"I wouldn't have actually hurt you." He assured me, leaning against the doorframe.

"Good to know." I said, folding my arms across my chest.

"I made a promise to Elijah that I wouldn't harm you and he feels so strongly about you that I can't help but comply." He darted off.

* * *

I was in the abandoned witch house. I leaned over Elijah's coffin, wishing I could un-dagger him. The front door open and shut above me on the first floor. I shut Elijah's coffin and wearily went to the bottom of the stairs. Damon hurried down and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Klaus is gonna get the coffins. Come on!" He hurried over to the locked coffin while I paused at Elijah's.

"We don't have time to get them all and my bet is that the locked one is important. Help me." Damon told him. I spared one last look at Elijah's coffin and then hurried over to him. We grabbed the locked coffin and hurried out to the car, shoving into the back.

"We need to un-dagger Elijah."

"What?" Damon asked as he pulled his keys out of his pocket.

"We need to un-dagger Elijah. Give Klaus a nice little surprise." I said with a smirk. He smiled.

"Go. I'll meet you at the boarding house." He told me. I hurried back inside the house as Damon drove off. I skidded to a stop in front of Elijah's coffin and threw it open. I yanked the dagger out of his chest. I tucked the dagger into my inside jacket pocket. I hurried to the bottom of the stairs and listened for anyone coming in while I waited for Elijah to wake up. I was sure Damon meant for me to get the dagger out and then run, but I wanted to talk to him and explain if I got the chance. Behind me, there was a gasp. I hurried back over to Elijah as he sat up.

"Elijah!" He looked at me, shocked.

"Did you un-dagger me…?"

"Yeah. But we don't have a lot of time. Klaus is coming to get you and whoever is in the other two coffins. He will kill me if sees me."

"Where's the dagger?"

"Here." I pulled it halfway out of my jacket pocket.

"Good. Keep it. He won't be able to dagger me again without awakening one of my very angry brothers." He climbed out of the coffin and straightened his jacket.

"I betrayed you, yet you un-daggered me?"

"So I'm an idiot when it comes to choosing my men." I admitted. He raised an eyebrow, but I didn't have time to explain about my crisis with Jeremy. We heard someone coming into the house.

"It's not Klaus… One of his minions." Elijah assured me. He went to the bottom of the stairs and met the hybrid with a compulsion.

"Don't move. I need to have a little talk before you do anything. Once she-." He motioned at me. "Leaves, then you may continue your work." Elijah came back over to me.

"How long have I been daggered?"

"Um… Well, over the summer and then maybe a month or so during the school year. Didn't keep track; sorry…"

"I will deal with my brother. You need to get out of here before any one else comes." He told me. He climbed back into the coffin.

"Do shut this for me." He told me.

"You gonna be okay locked in a box and…conscious?"

"Perfectly fine. Do hurry."

"Right." I shut the lid carefully and then hurried past the compelled hybrid. I darted away from the abandoned house and to the boarding house, smiling to myself.

* * *

** A/N In the next episode, all the Originals are un-daggered and in just the next few episodes, you'll know who Beth's Original love interest is! Please review and tell me what you think! **


	13. Bringing Out The Dead

**A/N Sorry for not updating sooner. I will try to get back to the update-a-day I had been doing. Please review and tell me what you think!**

* * *

"Beth, up, now!" Damon shook me again and I moaned, opening my eyes.

"What?" I demanded.

"We're going to a little dinner party with Klaus. Get dressed."

* * *

I stood outside of Klaus's new house, in between Stefan and Damon. I wore a short black dress with black lace tights and knee high leather boots. Elijah opened the door a second after Damon knocked.

"Niklaus, our guests have arrived!" Klaus came into view.

"Damon, Stefan, Beth… Elijah tells me you seek an audience. Very bold. Let's discuss the terms of our agreement like civilized men, shall we?" He asked, leading us into a dinning room with a small table set up with five chairs.

"It's better to indulge him." Elijah whispered to us.

"I didn't come here to eat, Klaus. In fact, I didn't want to come here at all. But I was told I had to because you would hear us out." Stefan said.

"Well, we can sit and eat or I can reach down your throats and pull out your insides. The choice is yours." We sat down. I took the chair in between Stefan and Elijah. Judging by the amused look Klaus gave me, it didn't go unnoticed. There were plates of food in front of us and Klaus motioned for us to eat. Damon, Elijah and Klaus all started eating. I put a piece of steak in my mouth, chewed and swallowed obediently, though I didn't want to. Stefan didn't eat at all.

"Come on, I thought that we agreed to leave grumpy Stefan at home…" Damon hissed at him. Stefan grumpily ate. Klaus smirked.

"That's the spirit. Isn't it nice? The five of us dining together? Such a treat! Is this what you had in mind when you pulled the dagger out of Elijah?" Klaus directed the question at me.

"Well, I know how he felt about _you_, so I thought, 'hey, what the heck, the more the merrier'!" I said.

"Well, Elijah and I have had our share of quarrels over the centuries. But we always make it through." Klaus said.

"Kind of like you and Rebekah, right? Where is she, by the way? Last I checked she was still daggered because you were afraid to face her." Stefan said.

"If you're referring to the fact that Rebekah knows that I killed our mother, I've already come clean with Elijah." Klaus told him.

"Hey, Stefan, remember when you killed dad?" Damon asked.

"And me." I muttered.

"Might want to dial down the judgment until dessert." Damon added.

"We're here to make a deal. Doesn't mean we have to kiss his-." Stefan started.

"Long evening ahead of us! Pace yourself!" I interrupted him.

"Stefan, where is the lovely Elena tonight?" Elijah asked to change the subject.

"I don't know, ask Damon." Klaus laughed.

"I'm sorry, Elijah, you've missed so much. Trouble in paradise." Klaus told him.

"One more word about Elena and this dinner is over." Stefan snapped.

"You know what, probably best just to keep Elena in the 'do not discuss' pile." I said.

"You're probably right." Klaus agreed.

"It's just the allure of the Petrova doppelganger, still so strong. What do you say, brother? Should we tell them about Tatia?" Klaus went on.

"Now why should we discuss matters long since resolved." Elijah asked, looking uncomfortable.

"Well, given their shared affection for both Elena and Katerina, I think our guests might be curious to learn about the originator of the Petrova line. And Beth certainly looks interested." I ducked my head, blushing. I hadn't meant to look 'interested' in whatever girlfriend Elijah had had before.

"When our family first settled here, there was a girl named Tatia. She was an exquisite beauty. Every boy of age desired to be her suitor, even though she'd had a child by another man. And none loved her more than Niklaus." Elijah explained.

"I'd say there was one who loved her at least as much." Klaus said, giving Elijah a meaningful look.

"Wait a minute… You both loved the same girl?" Damon asked.

"This is not going have a happy ending." I said, speaking from my brother's experience.

"Our mother was a very powerful witch. She sought to end our feud over Tatia and so she took her. Klaus and I would later learn it was that it was Tatia's blood that we consumed in the wine the night where our mother performed the spell which turned us into vampires. Tatia wouldn't make a decision between the two of us, so for a time Niklaus and I… grew estranged. Harsh words were traded, we even came to blows, didn't we, brother?" Elijah asked. _Called it_, I thought but didn't say out loud.

"But in the end we realized the scared bond of family." Klaus said. _Says the guy with his siblings in coffins…_, I thought bitterly.

"Family above all." They clinked their glasses together. Elijah looked back at us.

"So why don't we move this evening along and discuss the terms of this proposal?" He asked.

"That's very simple. Klaus gets his coffin back, in exchange, he and the Original extended family leave MysticFalls forever. Me, Stefan, Beth and Elena live happily ever after. No grudges." Damon explained.

"The deal sounds fair, brother." Elijah said.

"I don't think you understand. Elena's doppelganger blood insures that I will always have more hybrids to fight those that oppose me. I will never leave her behind." Klaus said. He got up and started pacing.

"Let's say I do leave her here, under your protection, what then? How long before one of you Salvatore Brothers turns her into a vampire? Or worse, how long before she dies caught between your feuding? You see, each one of you Salvatore Brothers truly believes that you're the one that can protect her and that is a simple delusion. Gentleman, the worse thing for Elena Gilbert… is the two of you."

"I'm going to get some air." Elijah said, standing up. I threw down my napkin.

"Goody, an excuse." I hurried after him into the next room. He led me out onto the porch.

"Tell me you have a plan!" I said.

"Yes, but you need to trust me."

"Done." I assured him. He led me back into the house and into a room with three coffins. I looked over at him. I mouthed 'are we going to un-dagger them?' at him, not wanting to risk the chance that Klaus was listening in. He nodded. He popped open the lid to Rebekah's coffin and pulled the dagger out of her. I opened the nearest coffin. This Original had spiky brown hair and looked younger than Klaus but a bit older than Rebekah. I pulled the dagger out of him. Elijah had un-daggered the last Original. I looked back at him and mouthed 'now what?' as I walked back over.

"Klaus can't hear us. If he could, he'd been in here by now to stop us." He assured me.

"You could have told me that before. I felt like an idiot mouthing stuff." I said, still keeping my voice low. He smiled at me, amused. I narrowed my eyes.

"I'm glad my feeling of stupidity amuses you." Rebekah and the two other Originals gasped to life and sat up in their coffins. The one I had un-daggered hopped out first.

"Where's Klaus?!" He demanded.

"There." I pointed at the door to the next room.

"Not yet!" Elijah said quickly.

"Who's she?" The same one asked, motioning at me as if I wasn't right there and could hear him. I answered before Elijah could.

"The chick that just un-daggered you. Yeah, you're welcome, Original-Frat-Boy." I told him. He cocked his head at me with a smirk similar to Damon's.

"I like pretty little things with sharp tongues."

"Oh, honey, I'm just getting started." I assured him. He smiled even wider.

"Kol, no." Elijah just shook his head at him.

"My apologies, did you have dibs on the girl?" He asked in an 'I don't care either way' sort of tone.

"Beth." I informed him of my name.

"A pretty name for a pretty girl." He took my hand and kissed it. I swear he earned more points for that than Jeremy had since I started dating him.

"Kol, no." Elijah repeated, firmer this time.

"Why not?" He asked in a whining tone.

"He's jealous. I mean, who wouldn't want this?" I asked, motioning to myself. Kol laughed.

"Oh dear gosh, I forgot how annoying you were." Rebekah complained as she climbed out of her coffin.

"We never talked." I reminded her.

"You're face annoyed me." She told me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's not like you're face is even worse or anything." I said sarcastically. Kol snickered at that and Rebekah gave me a dirty look.

"Enough!" Elijah said, sounding annoyed. When we shut up, he went on.

"I will distract Klaus and then you guys can have your fun with him." He explained.

"Come along, Beth." He added. He took my arm and led be back in the other room. Klaus and Stefan were standing close together, Klaus's hand out.

"So, what do you say, Stefan? Do we have a deal?" Stefan took Klaus's hand.

"What are you doing?!" Damon asked. I went to stand by him.

"Nice try, Klaus." Stefan added. Klaus broke Stefan's arm and kicked him in the leg to break that as well. Damon and I tried to get forward but Elijah restrained us, holding us by our throats against the wall. Klaus stuck Stefan's hand in the fireplace so it burned.

"Bring me by coffin before I burn him alive!" Klaus said.

"Fine; I'll get it!" Damon said.

"Go with them, brother, keep them honest. And when you return, I'll make good on my promise to you and I will hand over our family." Elijah shoved both Damon and I out into the front yard.

"Ow! Little more acting, little less pain next time." I complained. Kol, Rebekah and the last (and obviously physically oldest) Original walked over.

"Yes, it would be a shame if you ruined her pretty little face." Kol said. He ran a finger across my cheek and I blushed and smiled.

"No." Damon and Elijah both said. Kol rolled his eyes and pulled his hand back.

"Shall we go meet our brother?" Elijah added. He took the two daggers that Kol and the other Original were holding. Elijah, Damon and I went back into the room with Elijah compelling one of the human girls in the house on the way.

"Elijah… Why haven't you left yet?" Klaus asked. Stefan was on the ground, away from the fireplace.

"Where are you manners brother? We forgot dessert." He pulled the cover off the plate that the blonde human girl was holding to show the two daggers.

"What have you done?!" Klaus demanded.

"What have you done? You see, I've learned not to trust your vulgar promises, Klaus. We're doing this on my terms now." Elijah told him. Kol came into the room behind me.

"Kol." Klaus breathed.

"Long time, brother." He said. He rested his elbow on my shoulder, smiling over at me. Klaus backed away from him and Elijah, only to run into the other Original. That Original stabbed him through the hand with a dagger.

"Finn, don't!" Klaus pleaded. He tried to run away, but was blocked by Rebekah, who stabbed him in the stomach. Kol moved forward and caught him as he fell back.

"This is for our mother!" Rebekah spat at him. Elijah looked over at Damon, Stefan and me.

"You're free to go. This is family business." We didn't need to be told twice. We hurried out of the house and left Klaus to his siblings.

* * *

Damon, Stefan and I walked to the Lockwood cellar.

"You were right about Elijah. Un-daggering him was a smart move." Damon told me.

"Wow, actual acknowledgement of a job well done… Did that physically hurt? Do you need an ice pack?" I teased.

"Damon… you could have left me there. Klaus would have killed me and then you'd have Elena all to yourself." Stefan said thoughtfully.

"And I'm done." I ran forward to get out of hearing distance before I got involved in their Elena-love-triangle. I hurried to the entrance to the vampire-proof room. Bonnie and her mother were both passed out on the floor. The coffin was open, but obviously empty.

"STEFAN, DAMON!" They were there in a second.

"They're still breathing; I can hear them." Stefan said. I looked at them.

"The coffin's empty."


	14. Dangerous Liaisons

**A/N Since I haven't updated every day like usual and everyone seemed eager for another chapter, I decided to update twice in one day. Hope you guys like this one. Like always, please review. **

* * *

"It was their mother Esther that was sealed in that coffin." Elena told us as we stood in the Gilbert house, repeating what Elijah had told her.

"As in the Original Witch?" I asked.

"What?! How is she even alive? I thought her hybrid freak show of a son ripped her heart out f thousand years ago." Damon said.

"I don't know. I'm guessing she has a couple of connections in the witching community. Elijah said she wants to live in peace with her family, including Klaus." Elena explained.

"She was supposed to be the weapon to help us kill Klaus." Stefan said.

"Well, not anymore… At least according to Elijah."

"That coffin was the only thing stopping Klaus from tearing us to shreds!" I reminded them.

"Anyone else feeling a little used right now?" Damon asked.

"Look, Elijah promised me that his family wouldn't hurt any of us. I believe him." The doorbell rang. She went to answer it. We followed her. She picked up a note from her doorstep.

"What's that?" Damon asked.

"It's an invitation… 'please join the Mikaelson Family this evening at seven-o-clock for dancing, cocktails and celebration'." She read out loud.

"Who are the Mikaelson's?" Stefan asked.

"The Original family." I replied.

"It's bad enough they're moving into town, now they want a house-warming gift?" Damon asked.

"Wait, there's a note on the back… 'Elena, I think it's time we finally meet. Esther'."

* * *

I left Stefan, Damon and Elena to discuss all the reasons she shouldn't go to that party. I went to the boarding house and was surprised to see Kol waiting for me on the porch. He handed me the same type of invitation that Elena had gotten. Then a box that obviously held a dress in it.

"I do hope you'll wear it. I think it'll look wonderful on you, darling." He told me.

"Thank you…" I said, slowly and suspiciously.

"I'm afraid my brother has given you the wrong impression. I will be nothing like Klaus, especially to you." He said softly. I blushed.

"You are earning massive points right now." I told him.

"Well, at the end of the night, you tell me how much more I've earned." He said. I smiled again. He left, vamp-speeding off. I went into the house and opened the box. I pulled the dress out. It was a long dress I could wear to a prom. It came to the floor when I held it up to my shoulders, had a black top with spaghetti straps and a pale blue skirt. The part where the skirt connected to the top had silver crystals in the shape of a vine with flowers. I smiled.

* * *

I walked into the Mikaelson's mansion that night, wearing the dress. I hadn't gotten two steps before both Kol and Elijah were right next to me.

"You look lovely." Elijah commented.

"Thank-." I started.

"Like I knew she would when _I _picked out the dress." Kol told him. They glared at each other over my head.

"Oookay… Can we not fight?" I asked hopefully. Elijah and Kol glared at each other for a minute more before they both looked at me again.

"We have to do something." Elijah said.

"Save me a dance." Kol added. They both walked off. I scurried over to stand by Caroline as the Originals stood on the staircase.

"Did Elijah get you that dress?" Caroline whispered to me.

"Kol." I corrected. She motioned towards her own blue dress.

"Klaus."

"Welcome, thank you for joining us. You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's a tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance. Tonight's pick is a centuries old waltz. So if all of you could find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom." Elijah said.

"Crap. Kol and Elijah both want me." I hissed to her.

"Klaus wants me. I win. Or lose, actually." She hurried off. Elijah got to me first and I took his hand, shooting a sympathetic look at Kol over my shoulder. As we danced, Elijah kept glancing over at a jealous Kol.

"I never took you to be the teasing type." I said.

"Teasing? No…"

"Marking your territory to make sure he knows I belong to you, yes…" I mocked. He smiled.

"Does that mean you do belong to me?" He asked.

"No." I said quickly.

"Right… You still belong to Jeremy." He said.

"I belong to no one." I told him in a way I hoped had come off as fierce. We had to switch partners and I found myself with Kol.

"Hello darling." He said with a wide smile.

"Hey, Kol." I returned.

"Miss me?"

"Hmm… Maybe. Don't push your luck, Original Frat Boy…."

* * *

Later that night, I got caught by Matt after Kol and Elijah had both disappeared.

"What is Caroline doing dancing with Klaus?!" He asked.

"What were you doing dancing with Rebekah? Yeah, I noticed that." I told him, flipping the mental switch from 'calm and collected' to 'you mess with my best friend, I will hurt you' in a split second.

"What are you doing with Kol _and_ Elijah?" He returned.

"Are we talking about Caroline or me?"

"Caroline."

"Then, in answer to that: not your problem. You're not dating her anymore." I told him. I started to walk away, but he caught my arm and turned me around.

"Not a smart idea to piss me off, Matt." I had two Originals that liked me, two older brothers and his ex-girlfriend/my best friend to back me up.

"Look, I just want to make sure that Caroline isn't going to get hurt."

"She's smart enough to figure it out without you. She's not _your_ girl. She can make her own decisions." I pulled my arm away and walked off. After that, I was caught by Rebekah.

"What?" I snapped.

"Jeez, you're in a good mood." She said sarcastically.

"I tend not to be around you."

"I'm hurt." Another dose of sarcasm for me.

"Deal with it."

"I made a mistake." She admitted.

"Who'd you kill?"

"No one! I just… asked Kol to help me kill Matt. But he didn't! But now… I think he's going to try because I didn't want him to." She explained.

"And you're coming to me… why?"

"He likes you. You can tell him to knock it off." There was a loud thump outside that we heard only because of our vampire hearing. The Mikaelson's, Stefan, Elena, Caroline and I hurried outside. Damon was standing over Kol's body, obviously both having come from the balcony above.

"Damon!? Are you crazy?!" I cried.

"Maybe a little." He admitted. He looked over at Elena.

"Far be it me to cause a problem." He darted off.

"I'll deal with him. Uh, bye." I said over my shoulder to Elijah. I darted after him and caught up to him in the living room of the boarding house.

"Seriously?!" I yelled.

"Oh, sorry, did I beat up your newest boyfriend? For a girl who claimed her eternal love to Jeremy Gilbert, you seem to have moved on pretty quickly, little-." I slammed into him, pinning him to the ground. He threw me off and stood up again. I growled and got to my feet.

"I'm going to get a drink, join me if you want." He smirked and walked out, slamming the front door behind him. I went up to my bedroom and pulled the dress off. I threw it onto my bed and pulled on an old t-shirt and jeans. I flopped down on my desk chair and pulled my knees up to my chest. I picked up my phone, my finger hovering over Jeremy's number. I'd changed the third speed dial to Caroline since he moved to Denver and Elena told me he was not to have anything to do with Mystic Falls anymore, but his number was still saved. Finally, I sighed and pressed it. I put the phone to my ear as I checked the time on my clock. 11:50. He would probably be asleep by now. Sure enough, I got his voicemail.

"_Hey. It's Jeremy. Leave a message._" I didn't, but as I put the phone down again I whispered 'I love you'.

* * *

**A/N Also, I forgot to ask about but what do you guys think of Kol and Beth? Or do you support Elijah/Beth or Jeremy/Beth? I would love to hear who you guys 'ship' with Beth. Please tell me in the reviews and, as always, thanks for reading! I'll have the next chapter/episode up soon. **


	15. All My Children

**A/N Thanks for all the reviews I got on the last chapter! I hope you guys like this chapter, please review!**

* * *

I sat at the bar in the Grill, finishing my history homework to humor Alaric. I looked up when two people sat down on either side of me.

"Hello, darling." Kol greeted me with his usual smile. Klaus smiled from the other side of me.

"My brother seems infatuated with you. Don't ask why. He was always a bit messed up in the head." He informed me before ordering his drinks. I collected my papers and shoved them in my bag. I looked over at Kol.

"You tried to kill Matt the other night." I told him. He rolled his eyes and took the shot glass Klaus handed him.

"Yes, yes, I tried to kill the human. But I didn't." He said, taking the shot.

"No, you just broke his hand and had to be stopped by Damon, who snapped your neck." I said mock cheerfully. I stood up and started to walk off, but Kol caught my arm.

"I apologize for that, if you took offense to it. But we are vampires. Humans are food, not of importance." I yanked my arm back.

"I think you forgot you used to be human too." I hissed. I walked away, heading for the door. He followed me anyway. I turn to him, backing into a quiet corner so that no one else could over hear us.

"Seriously, take a hint." I suggested.

"I'm sorry." He said. He seemed to actually be apologetic. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and Alaric stabbed him through the heart with the dagger.

"What did you do that for?" I demanded as we dragged him out of the Grill and into the ally.

"We're hoping it will do the same to all the other Originals. They're all connected due to Mother Original's spell." Alaric explained.

"What about Klaus?"

"Caroline's distracting him and it should work for him too."

"Doubtful. He's a hybrid." I reminded him. Stefan and Damon ran over to us.

"It'll work." Stefan assured me.

"Good work. You too, sis." Damon added.

"Next time can you actually involve me in the plan?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Maybe. Next time." He told me. Suddenly Klaus darted up, locking me in a chokehold. He reached over and un-daggered Kol.

"You should not have done that." Klaus growled. He snapped my neck, letting me collapse into darkness.

* * *

I woke up in the back of Damon's car. I jerked up, banging my head on the ceiling. I moaned and scooted forward to see Stefan and Damon.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Klaus snapped your neck. We're trying to stop Esther because we have about ten minutes before Rebekah kills Elena. Yep. That pretty much covers it." Damon said.

"Esther is channeling the Bennett line, Bonnie and her mother." Stefan added.

"We'll handle that. The Original siblings are going to distract Finn and Esther. If you can sneak up on Esther. Grab her. Kill her if you have to." Damon finished.

"Why me?" I demanded.

"Because if you kill _her_, Elijah and Kol will make sure Finn doesn't kill _you_." We all got out of the car and darted to the abandoned witch house. I hid in the shadows while Kol, Elijah and Klaus talked to Finn and Esther.

"For a thousand years, I've been forced to watch you. Felt the pain of every victim, suffered while you shed blood… Even you, Elijah, with your claim to nobility, you're no better! All of you! You're a curse on this Earth! Stretched out over generations… If you've come to plead for your life, I'm sorry; you've wasted your time." Esther said. I darted forward and attempted to grab Esther. A circle of salt stopped me, like I hadn't been invited in. I had about a second to think 'oh crap' before Finn spun around and grabbed me by the throat, cutting off my airway. Then he stuck his hand in my chest. I didn't have enough air to scream, but Elijah did yell out a warning to Finn from behind them. Suddenly Esther cried out.

"No! Sisters, do not abandon me!" Finn dropped me to the ground and he and Esther disappeared. Elijah and Kol ran over to me.

"Are you alright?" They asked in unison. I nodded as I healed. Damon and Stefan came out.

"It's done. Let's go." Damon pulled me to my feet and we darted off to the boarding house again before I could say anything else to Kol and Elijah. I went to my bedroom and stripped off my blood soaked t-shirt. I pulled on a new tank top and kicked off my shoes, pulling my knees up to my chin as I sat down on my bed. My phone rang in my pocket. I saw it was Jeremy and eagerly answered.

"Hey!" I said excitedly.

"_Hey. I saw I missed your call last night. What's up?_"

"Nothing. I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"_Oh, fine. You?_"

"Fine." I lied.

"_Well, uh, I was about to head to bed unless there was something you wanted to talk about._" I felt silent tears run down my face. Damon had really compelled him not to think twice about Mystic Fals…

"No… uh… no." I said, trying to keep my voice level. He didn't say anything, so either I succeeded or he just really didn't care anymore.

"_Then bye._"

"Bye." He hung up. I lied down on my bed, curled up on my side and tried not to think about it as I fell asleep.


	16. 1912

**A/N so sorry I have updated! Please review anyway!**

* * *

Damon and I walked into Stefan's room. He was tapping his hand against his desk so his ring made a knocking sound on it, staring at his open journal. I opened my mouth to speak, but Damon beat me to it.

"Dear diary, a chipmunk asked my name today. I told him it was Joe. That lie will haunt me forever…" I smacked him upside the head for that. Stefan got up and put his journal back on his bookshelf.

"What do you want?" Stefan asked. I looked at Damon, wondering why he dragged me up here myself.

"I was hoping the three of us could hang. You know, a little bonding. I know we don't actually hang. We team up, we join forces and we activate our Wonder Sibling powers!" He started looking through Stefan's bookshelf.

"What are you doing?" Stefan asked him with an annoyed sigh. Damon turned and smiled over at Stefan.

"Digging up clues. Most of the Originals are gone, but now we have a who-done-it in town. Do you remember when we came back for Zachariah's funeral?" Damon asked.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Vaguely. Why?" Stefan asked.

"If memory serves, he wasn't the first founder's council member killed that year, or even that month."

"You're point being?" Stefan asked.

"I'm trying to remember what year it was."

"1912." I told him automatically. Damon grabbed a journal off the shelf and threw it to Stefan.

"1912… Or as I like to call it: the last time MysticFalls had a serial killer on its hands." Damon said with a smirk. Stefan opened the journal read it out loud.

"'It fells strange to be home again after so long away. I thought I would never return. Certainly not for a funeral…'."

* * *

_Mystic__ Falls__, 1912_

_I placed some flowers on the grave and glanced back at Stefan as he talked to Samantha Gilbert and Marianna Lockwood. When those girls left, I returned to Stefan's side. I was about to speak when a crowd flapped past us, landing on the grave. As I expected, Damon soon walked over to us. _

_"Have you been eating the relatives again?" Damon asked with a snarky grin. I growled at him. _

_"Damon, now is really not the time for you and your… personality." I told him. _

_"Damon, it's been a long time. Almost fifty years… I'm surprised you came." Stefan said calmly. _

_"And miss the funeral of… what do you call him? 'Uncle' Zachariah?" Damon asked. _

_"I see you're still mad at me." Stefan said. _

_"Why would I be mad at you, Stefan? You made me become a vampire and now I walk the world alone, drinking other people's blood." _

_"You don't have to be alone! That's your choice and it's on you!" I protested. _

_"Oh, don't take sides, little sister. It's so… dramatic." Damon told me. I glared at him. _

_"Any chance you took out your anger for me on our nephew?" Stefan asked. _

_"If I'm not mistaken, you were the one that killed our family, remember? May father rest in peace. Oh, and let's not forgot the pure dumb luck that kept little sister with us after you ripped her throat out!" Damon reminded him. I shifted uncomfortably, not liking the turn of conversation. _

_"I'm not like that anymore, Damon!" Stefan told him. _

_"Well congratulations, Stefan! But if you'll excuse me, I'd like to live out my eternal existence as far away from you as possible." He started to leave. _

_"Damon, wait! Let's grab a drink, catch up." Stefan suggested. He turned back. _

_"Damon, please?" I asked hopefully. He sighed. _

_"Sure. Why not?" _

* * *

I shook my head, trying _not _to remember 1912. Damon looked over at Stefan, a smug smirk on his face.

"What do you say, brother? You wanna go get drunk? Little sis, I can compel the bartenders to forget you're physically way too young. Wanna go?" Damon asked.

"You're bored. Your best friend's in jail and you need a new drinking buddy." I said, folding my arms across my chest.

"Well, there's that and I was hoping you could help me solve a murder." Damon took the journal from Stefan and walked out of the room. Stefan and I looked at each other, sighed in unison and then followed him.

When we got into the Grill, Damon stopped, making me almost bump into him. He nodded towards one of the tables.

"Oh… She-Devil nine-o-clock." He said under his breath. Rebekah was talking to Carol Lockwood at one of the tables. Rebekah and Damon stared at each other for a minute. Then Damon, Stefan and I went to the bar.

"So what does a medical examiner, Bill Forbes and Ric all have in common?" Damon asked.

"Meredith, Mr. Forbes and Alaric were all in the Founders Council, Damon." I told him. I had thought it was obvious.

"Yes, but why them? Huh? Brian Walters and Alaric weren't from Founding Families. I mean, hey, if you're gonna slaughter founders council members, go A-list. At least in 1912 they killed a Salvatore!" Damon said. Rebekah walked over to us.

"And which Salvatore would that be?"

After we explained everything we wanted to explain to Rebekah, she looked at us suspiciously.

"So, Zachariah Salvatore was your nephew?" She asked.

"Well, our father knocked up one of the maids during the Civil War and she had a son. But as far as anyone knew, Stefan, baby sis and I were dead. The family name had to go somewhere." Damon explained.

"And, uh, your family owned the logging mills back then?"

"You're full of questions today, Blondie." I noted, narrowing my eyes at her.

"I'm just researching the town's history. I grew up here after all!"

"You know, you don't have to disguise your true motives… If you want more sex, just ask for it." Damon told her, looking at her suggestively.

"Oh my gosh." I cried, looking away. Stefan just shook his head and took another shot.

"Not enough liquor in the world." Rebekah told him.

"Oh come on, it was too good for you to be this hostile." Damon told her. Stefan and I moved from between Damon and Rebekah to the other side of Damon. Rebekah rolled her eyes and took the seat next to Damon.

"So did they ever catch the killer?" Rebekah asked.

"Nope. Wrote it off all on vampires." Damon told her.

"Maybe it was a vampire, Damon." Stefan suggested.

"It wasn't! Damon didn't do anything. I sure as heck didn't do anything and I was watching _you_ make you didn't do anything. Besides, it wasn't your style. Plus: there were no other vampires around town then." I told him.

"Well, there was one other vampire…" Stefan said. I grimaced, remembering.

"Remember Sage?" Stefan asked, looking over at Damon. Damon smirked and took a drink.

"Speaking of great sex…"

"I knew a Sage once… Trashy little thing." Rebekah muttered.

"You really think it was Sage who was killing all those founders back then?" Damon asked.

"She was interested in you, Damon. I wouldn't put it past her to be a murderous physco." I told him. He shot me a death look, but didn't argue with that.

"So, uh, tell me more about your old relatives…. I heard they tore down half the woods to build this town." Rebekah said. I looked at her.

"It's been fun. Please note the sarcasm there. But this is family night and you weren't invited." I told her. Damon and Stefan smirked at that and the three of us left her at the bar. Damon started playing darts while Stefan and I sat at the table behind him.

"So let's just say that Sage was killing everyone in 1912. Who is doing it now? It's not that physco, Dr. Fell. She's a woman. There's no way she could stab three grown men." Damon said. He threw a dart at the board, but Rebekah caught it.

"That's a bit sexist. A woman could easily kill a man, given the right motivation." She disagreed.

"You just don't give up, do you?" I asked.

"Why are you guys so grumpy?" She asked.

"Stefan's on a master cleanse. Trying to be a better man and all…. And Beth's always in a bad mood." Damon explained. Rebekah looked at Stefan.

"You know, you were a lot more fun in the 20's."

"Don't." I warned.

"Oh, yeah, Beth gets protective of him when he's being self-righteous." Damon added.

"I'm not being self-righteous, Damon. I'm just not interesting in slaughtering innocent human beings anymore." Stefan said.

"Oh, okay. Fair enough. My mistake. You _used_ to be self righteous." He took Stefan's journal out of his pocket.

"Dear Diary, Damon has lost his way, though I have pulled my own life together he continues to waste his." Damon read aloud.

"I thought you called it a journal." I told Stefan. Rebekah took the journal from Damon.

"Ouch. 'His bitterness consumes him. He's noting but blackness and vile'." She closed the journal.

"So judgy!" She added.

"Well this is fun." Stefan said sarcastically.

"You know, if I'm being honest, you didn't seem like much fun either, Damon." Rebekah said. She started to hand Stefan's journal back to Damon but I intercepted it and snatched it away, putting it on the table for Stefan.

"I wasn't. The woman I was in love with was stuck in a tomb and she wasn't getting out for a hundred years. I wasn't having fun at all…" He explained that night when he met Sage. I had avoided him and Stefan, not wanting to get caught up in whatever trouble they caused. This story was new to me as well.

"That sounds like Sage alright." Rebekah said.

"How did you know her?" Damon asked.

"She was obsessed with my brother Finn, over nine hundred years ago." She explained with a shrug.

"What? Creepy suicidal guy?" Damon asked.

"You know how to pick 'em, Damon." I told him with a smirk. Stefan jumped up from the table.

"Alright, you know what; I need to get out of here." He turned to leave, but Damon grabbed his shoulder.

"Sure. First admit that you're getting twitchy."

"Damon, I'm not-."

"Admit it!"

"Damon, seriously?" I asked, getting up and getting between them. Rebekah was watching us, very amused it seemed.

"Okay, fine! I'm freaking out! I'm ready to eat the entire wait staff! Why do you need to hear me say it?" Stefan demanded, struggling to keep his voice low.

"Because I'm feeling a bit self righteous too." I grabbed Stefan's arm and pulled him out of the Grill.

"You okay?" I asked as we walked down the sidewalk. He shook his head. Suddenly there was the scent of blood behind us. We both turned. Damon was feeding on a woman. Stefan rushed over to Damon and pulled him off her.

"Damon, what are you doing?" I demanded. Rebekah was holding the woman now, smirking like an idiot.

"It's dinner time, brother. Have a bite." Damon said.

"Damon-." I started.

"You stay out of this!" He said quickly, giving me a warning look.

"What are you doing?" Stefan growled.

"Tough love, Stefan. You're not gonna survive this cold turkey thing, you never do! It's time to get that monkey off your back." Damon said.

"No! No!" Stefan protested.

"Damon, knock it off!" I growled. Damon darted around him and grabbed me hold me back.

"You are just not being helpful tonight." He complained. He looked back at Stefan.

"Feed or I'll let Rebekah have her way with her. You know she'll kill her." Damon said.

"You know I will." Rebekah agreed.

"Then her blood will be on your hands. Or you could just have a little drink, save her life. Come on, Stefan. You were the one who said that you didn't want any more innocent lives slaughtered. Go on, have a bit. I snatched, you eat, I'll erase. I'll even heal her back up for you." Damon said.

"Stefan, don't do-." Damon clamped a hand over my mouth to interrupt me. I struggled against him.

"Why are you doing this? You know what blood does to me!" Stefan said.

"Because you let it control you! You always have! I'm just here to help you learn how to fight it." Damon told him.

"This is rubbish!" Rebekah complained. She extended her fangs and prepared to bite the woman. Stefan rushed forward, pushing her away. Stefan stared at the blood running down the woman's neck and then bit down. I struggled even harder.

"Here, take baby sister." He pushed me into Rebekah's arms instead.

"Stefan, stop!" I screamed when I had the chance. Rebekah clamped a hand over my mouth with a mumbled comment about me never shutting up.

"Alright, that's enough. Come on, you're gonna bleed her dry." Damon told Stefan. I broke free from Rebekah, spun around and decked her as Damon pulled Stefan off the woman.

"Okay, you should go, Rebekah." Damon said. Rebekah gave me a long, hate filled look before darting off. I bit into my wrist and fed the woman my blood to heal her while Damon held Stefan back.

"Damon, you're such a-." I started.

"What are you doing?!" We all turned towards Elena and Matt as they walked over to us.

"Relax, Elena. Just a little experiment. There's no need make this more dramatic than it needs to be." Damon said, releasing Stefan.

"Elena, let's just go." Matt pulled Elena away.

"So… That's going take a little more time." Damon said, looking at Stefan. Stefan glared at him and walked away.

"Stefan, wait up!" Damon protested. I looked into the woman's eyes, compelling her.

"Forget everything that just happened here. Go home, now." She got in her car and drove off. I shot a look at Damon and then hurried after Stefan.

* * *

Later that night, Stefan and I walked over to Damon. He sat in the parlor, playing the piano.

"So I dug into old the family archives from the 1900's." Stefan said. I wondered if he was already over what had happened earlier. I sure as heck wasn't.

"So now you want to be helpful?" Damon asked, stopping and looking up at us.

"Want me to go back to being mad at you?" Stefan asked.

"What did you find?"

"Nothing from 1912, they never did arrest anyone for the founder's murders. But they did get a confession ten years later." I explained, taking the book from Stefan.

"They did? Who?"

"Jonathan Gilbert's granddaughter, Samantha. They assumed she was crazy, locked her up in an insane asylum." Stefan explained.

"Samantha Gilbert… Gilbert… Two things: one, Beth, you know how to pick them, just like me. Two: that is very weird." Damon said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Samantha Gilbert… I'm pretty sure I'd already killed her by that time."

"So you think that Samantha Gilbert is somehow still alive, running around MysticFalls, killing Founders?" I asked.

"It's not possible. If she became a vampire, we'd know about it, right?" Damon asked.

"Then she must have had a ring that brought her back to life. I mean, she was a Gilbert, right? Those rings were passed on for generations." Stefan said.

"Yeah, but even if she had a ring, it wouldn't have protected her from old age. She'd still be dead." I reminded him.

"Jonathan Gilbert only made two of those rings." Stefan mused.

"Jeremy has one, but he's in Denver." I said.

"And other one is…" Stefan trailed off, looking up at the two of us. Damon grimaced.

"Alaric's."


	17. Break On Through

**A/N It feels like I have updated in forever! My apologies! As always, hope you like it, please review, etc. **

* * *

Construction workers were restoring Wickery Bridge. Alaric, Meredith, Damon and I walked up. Rebekah was talking to Carol Lockwood.

"Rebekah's up to something. She's been snooping. She needs to have an 'accident' and disappear." I said, gritting my teeth at the sight of her.

"Remind me again, why are we here?" Alaric asked. Damon smirked.

"Ric, the world can't stop just because you're an accidental physco killer." He said.

"Do you have any tact whatsoever?" Meredith asked.

"No." I answered for him. Carol Lockwood walked over to us.

"Alaric, I'm glad you're here. Did you bring the sign?" Alaric looked totally confused.

"The restored Wickery Bridge sign? The history department promised me you'd have it today."

"I… I don't have the sign…. It, uh, slipped my mind. I've been… busy." Alaric stuttered.

"Well, it's not an emergency… We'll, uh, just unveil it when the bridge is complete." She said, obviously disappointed. She walked off.

"Get me out of here." Alaric complained.

"My pleasure." Meredith said.

"I'll go too." I offered.

* * *

When we got back to the Gilbert house, Alaric started looking through his old police reports. Meredith sat with him at the kitchen table while I checked my text messages. There was one from Jeremy

_**Hey. Call me.**_

I dialed his number and he answered on the third ring.

"_Hey!_" He greeted me.

"Hey. Why did I need to call you?"

"_Because I want to know what's going on in Mystic Falls. You can't lie and tell me nothing's going on there._" He said.

"Sure I can."

"_Beth-_."

"Jeremy, you went to Denver for a reason. To stay away from MysticFalls." I reminded him.

"_Then maybe you should come here._" He suggested.

"Hmm… Maybe later. Look, I have to go. Have fun with whatever it is you're doing, okay?"

"_Yeah, sure._" I hung up and walked over to the kitchen table. Alaric pushed a pad of paper towards me.

"Look, I want you to have this. Make sure Elena gets the information too. It's a list of my bank accounts, passwords, where to find my will, how to contact my family… Just in case this doesn't go my way." He told me.

"Alaric! Don't even think like that. It causes premature wrinkles." I tried to joke. I pushed the paper back towards him.

"Beth, I need to know that Elena and Jeremy and even you are going to be okay."

"They will be fine. _You _will be fine." I assured him. My phone rang. I saw it was Elena and answered it.

"_Are you with Alaric?_"

"Yep. Why?"

"_I need something from Alaric. Bonnie's going to try to do a spell, but she needs something he put on before his ring. Something personal_." I looked over at Alaric.

"Bonnie's going to try to do a spell. She needs something you put on before the ring. Personal." I told him.

"Well, uh… There's my wedding ring. It's up at the loft." He said. He started to get up. Meredith pushed him back down.

"Its better you stay with me." She told him.

"And me." I added.

"_Beth?_" Elena asked from the other end of the phone.

"Two more seconds." I said impatiently before looking back at Alaric.

"It's in the dresser by the kitchen. It's in an old aspirin bottle, probably covered in cobwebs." He told me. I talked back into the phone.

"Wedding ring. Dresser by the kitchen. Old aspirin bottle. Probably cobwebs." I gave her the keywords.

"_Okay, I'll get it._" She hung up. I put the phone back in my pocket and looked at Alaric.

"Elena's going to get it." I told him. He nodded.

"Okay." He agreed.

"Until Bonnie does her magic little spell, consider us the anti-murder squad." I said, motioning to Meredith and then myself. He half smiled.

* * *

A little while later, Alaric was in the living room while Meredith and I were in the kitchen, making coffee.

"You still with us?" I called into the living room.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still with you." He called back, sounding dead tired.

"We got the coffee on." Meredith assured him.

"Hey, Beth!" He called. I walked into the living room.

"What's up?" I asked. He stabbed me in the stomach with a needle filled with Vervain.

"Sorry, Alaric's not here right now." He whispered in my ear. He let me collapse on the floor.

* * *

When I woke up, I was shut in a closet. I silently cursed. I should have been watching Alaric much closer than I had. I opened the closet and stumbled out, weak from the Vervain. I was in Jeremy's room. At least the other Alaric had a sort of twisted sense of humor, putting me in my ex-boyfriend's closet. I hurried out of the room and to the top of the stairs. Alaric was talking with Elena.

"Elena, it's not Alaric!" I warned. Before I could move, Stefan ran up behind Alaric and put him in a choke hold.

"Don't hurt him!" Elena yelled.

"I'm trying not to!" He replied. Once Alaric passed out from lack of air, Stefan slowly put him down on the floor. He looked at me.

"You okay?"

"The Other Guy Vervained me!" I complained. Then I slowly turned towards the bathroom.

"Stefan…" I said quietly, smelling the blood.

"Elena, I need you to come upstairs with me. Beth can't break down the door, but there's going to be blood…" Stefan said, gritting his teeth. The three of us walked over to the bathroom door. Stefan kicked it down. Meredith was on the floor, unconscious and covered in blood. Stefan's fangs extended. Elena looked at him. He slowly recovered himself and hurried out of the bathroom. I stumbled over to Meredith, bit into my wrist and fed her my blood. Then I collapsed against the wall. Elena looked at me.

"Are you okay?"

"Will be…" I mumbled as we waited for Meredith to heal and wake up.

* * *

I sat in Alaric's apartment, waiting for him to wake up. Stefan had gotten him here and put him on his bed while I'd taken care of Meredith. I held my head in my hands, half asleep but still alert enough to know when Damon walked into the room.

"Oh no. You, out." He commanded, pointing towards me and then the door.

"What? Why?" I demanded.

"Because I don't want him hurting you again. Out." He commanded again. I sighed.

"Bonnie did the spell! The Other Guy shouldn't make an appearance again anytime soon!" I reminded him.

"Doesn't matter. Out."

"Saying 'out' more than once won't make me leave!" I told him. Then Alaric woke up. We both turned to him.

"What are you doing here?" He moaned. I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or to Damon.

"We're making sure the witch didn't turn you into a toad or a block of salt. Bonnie did a little spell. It's nothing to worry, just a little something to keep the killer at bay. Correction: _I'm_ making sure. Beth, seriously, get out of here before you get hurt again." Damon ordered.

"I hurt her?" Alaric asked, shocked.

"Vervained… Not that bad." I mumbled.

"Wait! Where's Meredith?" He asked.

"She'll be fine!" I assured him quickly. Stefan walked into the apartment.

"Hey, you're awake." He noted.

"Oh, I got us a little present!" Damon said suddenly. Alaric and I exchanged a look. Damon ducked into the hallway and then came back carrying something wrapped in paper.

"You know, boys and girl, I'm a philanthropist! I make the world a better place. Restoring old bridges, landmarks and…" He ripped the paper off the WickeryBridge sign.

"Historical signs made of the same white oak as the WickeryBridge!" He said with a smirk. I jumped up from my chair.

"White oak?" I echoed.

"Game's back on! Let's kill some Originals!"

* * *

**A/N And now I shall unveil my latest project: another Vampire Diaries fanfiction. It's non-canon to this story, so no Elisabeth Salvatore, but if you guys check it out, I would really, really appreciate it! It's entitled 'The Vampire Diaries Next Generation Season One' and you can probably find it on my profile under 'my stories', but I just put it up and it might not show up yet. **


	18. The Murder of One

**A/N Today, since I've been bad about updating, I'm going to give you with this update and another one after this. **

* * *

Elena came to Alaric's apartment the next day. Damon opened the door and poked his head out. He talked for a minute before shutting the door.

"I got rid of her." He said. He handed me a bag.

"Chocolate muffins." He said.

"Ooh!" I handed the bag to Alaric after taking a muffin out. Damon listened outside.

"Walking down the stairs… opening the front door… and she's gone!" He said. Alaric turned on the saw and sawed through the sign.

* * *

Stefan threw me a stake.

"That needs a sharper point."

"Got it." I grabbed a knife and began sharpening the point on the stake. Alaric grabbed his jacket.

"Looks like you guys have this handled. I'm going to call the sheriff." Damon, Stefan and I all looked over at him.

"I'm going to turn myself in." He clarified.

"Oh, no you don't!" I protested, getting up and blocking his way to the door.

"I have a homicidal alter ego. Unlike some other people in this room, I would like to take responsibility for the people I've killed."

"If you want to turn yourself in, you wouldn't be saying it out loud. Just saying." Damon told him.

"Hey, listen, of all the people, you cannot psychoanalyze me! I killed Caroline's father, I nearly killed Meredith. Everything's changed."

"Look, you're not turning yourself in. Bonnie's herbs are working and we have an Original to kill!" Stefan told him.

"His morals get very questionable when he has revenge on the brain." I whispered.

"Klaus needs to die! We finally have the chance to kill him, so you're not turning yourself in!" Stefan added. I pulled Alaric's ring out of my pocket and handed it to him.

"Put it on." I commanded.

"That ring is the reason I've killed people!" He protested.

"It's also the reason you've stayed alive this long. We're going to be fighting Originals, Alaric. Put it on, please." He sighed, but took it and put it on.

* * *

In the woods, Damon, Stefan and I met up with Caroline, Elena and Matt.

"Where's Bonnie; I texted her too?" Stefan asked.

"Bonnie's mom bailed on her. Again. I think we should leave her out of this one." Caroline explained.

"What are we doing here?" Matt asked.

"We found some more white oak." I explained, smirking. They all gave us a confused look.

"Long story; wait for the movie." Damon told them.

"Hang on…. White Oak? You have a weapon that can kill Klaus?" Elena asked. I threw the duffel bag on the ground to reveal the numerous white oak stakes.

"Nope. We all a have weapon."

"Klaus has always been one step ahead of us, but now we have the advantage. We're all armed and they're all still linked, meaning we only have to kill one. We need to seize the best opportunity, which means we need to be prepared for every opportunity." Stefan explained. I grimaced. If they were all still linked, once we killed one of them, Elijah died with them. Caroline gave me a look, knowing what I was thinking. I just shook my head and went to stand beside her instead.

"Scenario number one!" Damon said. He grabbed Elena and moved her to the side.

"You play Klaus!" He added. She nodded, mumbling an 'okay' under her breath.

"Rebekah is our target so we distract her and catch her off guard. To do that, we need to keep Klaus separate and occupied." Stefan said. He looked at Caroline.

"Why do I always have to be Klaus bait?" She complained.

"Because he's obsessed with you." I reminded her.

"But for right now we need you to play Rebekah. We use the quarterback to distract her. Just keep her talking." Damon explained.

"How?" Matt asked.

"Act interested. She's lonely, desperate." He said.

"Clearly. She slept with you." Caroline said. I bit my tongue to keep from laughing. Caroline and I exchanged amused glances and I gave her a thumbs up.

"Anyway, beefcake holds bombshell. I come up from behind her." Damon went around to the other side of Caroline, grabbing her arms.

"Ow!" She complained. Stefan made a move like he was going to stake her.

"Giving me time for one shot." Stefan agreed, backing away. Damon let go of Caroline. She came back to stand beside me.

"Got it? So we all have one stake, we keep it hidden and we look out for an opportunity we have." Stefan finished.

"No last minute attacks of pity for any of them." Damon said, looking hard at me.

"If it kills Klaus, then…. Just count me in." I told him. I just hoped it wouldn't have to be Elijah we staked. He looked at Elena.

"Don't worry about me. Not after what happened to Bonnie's mom."

"Barbie?" He looked at Caroline.

"Oh, I'm ready. Anything that will free Tyler from his sire bond!" She said with a nod.

"Busboy?" He looked at Matt.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Good point." Stefan looked around at all of us.

"We have twelve stakes, twelve shots at killing an Original. We can do this. Alright, let's try another scenario…."

* * *

When Stefan and I got home, Elena called Stefan. I left him to talk to her while I headed for the stairs. I gasped when Alaric was there, just waking up from being either unconscious or dead. I ran over to him.

"Alaric! What happened?" I asked. Stefan hurried up behind me, still on the phone with Elena.

"Rebekah happened." Alaric moaned. Stefan raised the phone back to his ear.

"We have a problem."

* * *

Outside the Grill, Stefan and I met up with Elena.

"How is he?" She asked as she walked up, referring to Alaric.

"He's just banged up. Caroline is going to stay with him and make sure he stays… himself." I explained.

"Matt texted me and he says that Finn is still in the grill. We need to play our next move." Stefan added.

"Wait, Rebekah has Damon. Our next move should be finding him!" Elena protested.

"No, we need to stay on point. See an Original, kill an Original. That's the plan." Stefan told her.

"Yeah, that was the plan before Damon's life was hanging in the balance. Beth! Do you even care about him anymore?" Elena demanded.

"First of all, I care about him a heck of a lot more than you do. Second of all, if we kill one Original, Rebekah drops dead too, ergo saving Damon who will must likely start singing 'Ding Dong The Wicked Witch Is Dead' when he sees it. And lastly, I've already decided that you're no good for either one of my brothers and I'm not exactly liking you right now, so I'd keep from pissing me off anymore than you already have." I told her. She looked shocked, like I hadn't made it perfectly clear that she was not the center of my universe. I rolled my eyes.

"Besides, I know what Damon would want." I added.

"What he would want and what we should do are two totally different things." She protested. I looked at Stefan.

"What did you see in her again?" I asked.

"Why are you suddenly pissed off at _me?_" Elena demanded.

"I'm not _suddenly_ pissed off at you. I'm just in a bad mood today and my ability to act like you're the center of my universe is lacking!" I told her.

"Are you going to help me with this or not?" Stefan asked Elena. She glared at him scornfully.

"Fine. We'll figure it out ourselves. Off you go." I made a 'shoo' motion with my hand as I said it but Stefan dragged me off instead of making her leave.

* * *

Inside the grill, Matt walked past Sage and Finn's table. Sage talked to him for a minute before he passed by the bar. I pushed my empty coffee cup towards him and he took it, along with the bottle of Vervain inside. I looked over at Stefan and gave him a small smile. This was going to work… Stefan texted something to me, not wanting to risk saying anything out loud. I looked down at my phone.

_**Get Ready**_

I gave him the smallest of nods. I hoped he couldn't tell how regretful I was about doing this. Finn, sure he could die. I didn't know him personally, but he tried to kill all his other siblings. I wouldn't hurt my brothers for the world, but he was willing to die himself to make sure they did do. I guess that he was getting his wish… It was Elijah I was remorseful about it. And Kol somewhat, though he'd seemingly left town without so much of a 'howdy-do' in my direction. Behind us, Sage and Finn started choking on the Vervain. Stefan and I got up and slunk out of the restaurant, giving Finn and Sage long, meaningful looks. Stefan and I hid around the corner of the ally. Finn and Sage came out. Stefan grabbed his stake and went to stab Finn, but Sage grabbed him and threw him across the ally. The white oak stake he'd been holding clattered to the ground.

"Finn, the stake!" Sage called as she fought with Stefan. I grabbed Finn by the throat to stop him, reaching into my back pocket (which was artfully covered up by my tunic shirt) for my stake. He grabbed my wrist to stop me from staking him and threw me against the wall. Elena and Matt came out of the Grill. Elena shot Finn in the stomach with a crossbow and he doubled over in pain.

"Matt!" I called. He rushed forward and drove the stake right through Finn's heart. Then Elena and Matt ducked back into the Grill to avoid Sage. Sage ran over to Finn's body, crying. I grabbed the two stakes and then Stefan and I darted away. We met up with Elena in the Salvatore Boarding House library, where Caroline was waiting for us.

"How's Alaric?" I asked Caroline.

"He'll be okay. I gave him a bottle of Bonnie's herbs and he went home. Oh, did you guys kill Finn?! Did it work?" She asked, coming to stand beside me. I slung an arm around her shoulders, nodding.

"Nothing worked until I see Klaus's body myself." Stefan said.

"Don't be such a downer… He's dead, it worked… So is Elijah." I mumbled. Elena's phone rang and she answered.

"Bonnie where have you been…? Klaus should be dead… They should all be dead, we just killed Finn… Okay… Bonnie, where's Damon? Are- are you okay? No, Bonnie, just-." Bonnie hung up.

"Klaus forced Bonnie to unlink the Originals. No one but Finn is dead! And he threatened Jeremy to make her do it!" Elena said. Stefan and I ran for the front door, but Elena followed us.

"Stay with Caroline! I'll call you when it's over." Stefan told her.

"Stefan, Beth, stop! Klaus is stronger than you, we need another plan!" Elena protested.

"What we need is for Klaus to be dead." I corrected her.

"You're acting on anger!"

"Anger gets things done!" Stefan told her.

"He threatened Jeremy, Elena! Or do you even care about him anymore?" I used her earlier accusation against her. She gave me a shocked look.

"Yeah, that's how it feels to be accused of that." I told her.

"Anger will get both of you killed! And Damon!" She told us.

"Klaus does not get to survive this! Not after everything he took from me!" Stefan growled. Stefan and I hurried out with Stefan slamming the door behind him. Suddenly Sage ran up and grabbed Stefan's throat. I moved to stop her, but another vampire grabbed me. They threw us through the front door back into the house. Sage walked in after us.

"Ding dong!" She called. Caroline ran to grab her, but Sage threw her against a wall.

"I'm not here for you! I'm here for them!" She growled. The second vampire grabbed Elena to restrain her.

"I had to kill him, Sage!" Stefan said, getting to his feet.

"Oh, you remember me?" She kicked him into a chair. I ran behind her, grabbing her in a choke-hold. She grabbed my arms and pulled me off her, throwing me to the ground next to Caroline.

"Good. Then you remember I like to go all ten rounds!" Sage told Stefan. Caroline and I both got to our feet, ready to fight her with Stefan. Suddenly Sage started to cough and blood ran out of her nose. The vampire holding Elena started coughing too, falling to the floor.

"What's happening to me?" Sage moaned from the floor. Then she and the other vampire died.

"She just… died." Elena said. _Thanks, Captain Obvious, _I thought bitterly.

"So Sage and the vampire just die within an hour of Finn?" Stefan asked suspiciously.

"But why? Were they bitten by a hybrid?" Elena asked.

"Hybrid bites don't look like that. Maybe Sage was so in love with Finn that she died of sadness." Caroline suggested.

"That doesn't explain him." I said, motioning towards the other vampire.

"It's the blood… It's the bloodline! It has to be. Think about it: Finn turned Sage and Sage turned this guy… They're all part of the same vampire bloodline that originated with Finn!" Stefan said.

"Wait! So when an Original dies every vampire turned from their bloodline dies along with them? That would mean…" Caroline started. I finished it for her.

"If the Originals die, so does the entire vampire species."

* * *

At Klaus's mansion, Stefan and I walked into one of the rooms where Klaus and Rebekah were. Damon was strung up with his hands in bear traps. I flinched at the sight.

"This was much different in my head." Damon said. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what he meant. Stefan dumped the duffel bag of stakes on the floor.

"Oh, good, a hero! What do you want?" Klaus asked, amused.

"We're here to make a deal." Stefan said. He opened the duffel bag.

"Eight white oak stakes. The part of WickeryBridge you didn't burn." I explained, folding my arms across my chest.

"That's impossible!" Rebekah protested.

"Actually it's not." Stefan told her.

"Finn's dead, f.y.i." I added, smirking.

"You killed my brother?!" Rebekah demanded.

"Oops." I told her.

"Damon in exchange for the last eight weapons that can kill you." Stefan said.

"And how do I know there aren't any left?" Klaus asked.

"Because there aren't." I assured him. It was lie; we had enough to kill three out of four Originals, keeping the one that didn't turn our bloodline alive. I just hoped that Elijah was responsible for their bloodline, though we were certain he was responsible for my own.

"Let's be certain, shall we?" He asked. He went over to Damon.

"Nik, he's my play thing, not yours!" Rebekah complained. Klaus compelled Damon.

"Go home." Damon started to pull his wrists out of the bear traps and screamed in pain.

"No, stop, please!" I cried, trying to get forward. Stefan caught me, holding me back and safe as Rebekah stepped towards me.

"Alright, stop, stop, before you hurt yourself. Well, seeing that he can finally be compelled…" Klaus said. He compelled Damon again.

"Minus the stake's that in my brother, how many more stakes are out there that can kill me?"

"Eleven." Damon told him.

"Eleven! Really? So, not eight then?" Klaus asked, looking back at us.

"You really shouldn't have lied." Rebekah said with a smirk.

"I'll get you the other three!" Stefan told him.

"Yeah, that'll be nice… Or since you lied, maybe I'll just compel your brother to chew out his own tongue." Klaus suggested casually.

"What is wrong with you?!" I cried.

"What is wrong with both of you? Trying to defeat me?! Stefan! I gave your life purpose-." Stefan grabbed a white oak stake and went towards Klaus. Rebekah ran forward, but I slammed into her, pinning her to the floor. Klaus grabbed Stefan's wrist, stopping him.

"Step down! Or you all three die!" Klaus threatened. Rebekah shoved me off. Klaus grabbed the white oak stake from Stefan's hand.

"There. Now you only have to get me the other two." Klaus said.

"This is ridiculous!" Rebekah complained. She went over to Damon and released him.

"What are you doing?!" Klaus asked.

"I brought him here. I get to release him. My rules now. Bring us the stakes and you all live. Take your brother as a sign of good faith." She said. When Damon fell to the floor, I rushed over to him. Stefan and I pulled him to his feet.

"Bring us the stakes. All of them. Or I will wage a war against everyone you love. I hope I'm being clear." Klaus told us. Stefan, Damon and I left.

* * *

Damon and I knocked on Alaric's door. I turned to Damon as we waited for Alaric to answer.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Fine, fine…" He brushed off my concern. Alaric opened the door.

"Ah! He's still alive." Alaric said.

"Yeah, for now… I need your stake." Damon said. Alaric motioned for us to come inside. I shut the door behind us as Alaric and Damon went over to a bookshelf.

"It's right behind these books here."

"A bookshelf, really? At least I was trying to be clever about it."

"Where is it…?!" Alaric said.

"Ha, ha…. Seriously, where is it?" I asked dryly.

"It's not here!" The three of us searched through all the shelves. There was no stake to be found.

"Who else did you tell, Ric?!" Damon asked.

"No one… no one but me knew."

"Are you telling me that your vampire hating alter-ego has a stake that can kill an entire line of vampires, possibly mine?!" Damon cried.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."


	19. Heart of Darkness

**A/N So, as all viewers of the show know, Jeremy and Kol _both_ return in this episode and that will cause a bit of a problem with Beth. I tried to do the relationships justice and I hope you guys like it. Now I'll shut up about it and let you read it for yourselves. **

* * *

I walked down into the cellar with a small duffel bag and knocked on the door to the cell.

"Alaric?" I asked.

"Yep. Still me. Not gonna kill you." He assured me. I opened the door and walked in. Alaric was sitting on the cot on the floor. He looked up at me.

"You know, you shouldn't be in here. It defeats the purpose of keeping the murderer locked in a cellar away from people." He told me.

"You're not a murderer! And besides, you still need the basics. Toothbrush, clothes, some boring books to help you sleep..." I told him. Alaric picked up one of the books from the duffel bag I handed him.

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?"

"What? No… Damon. He thinks he's hilarious." I said, shaking my head.

"At least one of you Salvatore's have a sense of humor."

"Are you sure that you…? I mean, you don't have to be kept in here."

"No, this is the right place for me to be. At least until you guys can convince my highly uncooperative alter ego to fess up to where I or he hid the white oak stake." He said, shaking his head. I flopped down next to him and folded my legs up underneath me.

"Yeah. We looked everywhere. The Other Guy hid it well."

"What's Klaus gonna do if you can't find it?"

"It's the only thing on the planet that can kill him. He'll wage war. Kill people. Classic Klaus stuff." I said with a sigh. I looked over at him.

"Listen, Stefan is gonna watch over you for a while. Now that Klaus knows where Jeremy is, Elena, Damon and I are going to go get him and bring him back." I added.

"Why do you say that like your waiting for me to disapprove?"

"Damon and Elena together. Bad. Me and Jeremy together. Worse. Say that Jeremy and my relationship is toxic. That we shouldn't be together!"

"I'm not your dad, Beth. I'm not gonna tell you that, especially since it's not true." He told me. I hugged him and headed out of room.

"I'll be back soon enough." I said before shutting the door. I went upstairs to the living room where Elena, Stefan and Damon were.

"Here ya go, baby sis." Damon threw me my duffel bag and led me out of the house while Stefan and Elena talked. I got into the passenger seat of the car and Damon got in the drivers seat. When Elena came out, I moved to the backseat. Elena climbed into the car.

"You girls ready?" Damon asked. Elena and I just nodded.

* * *

In Denver, we found Jeremy at a batting cage.

"There he is." Elena said, as if I hadn't already seen him.

"Next time we compel him, remind me to make him better at baseball..." Damon said with a sorry shake of his head. I glared at him.

"We're not compelling him again." I told him through clenched teeth. We walked over.

"Hey, Jer!" Elena called. He turned around.

"Elena? Hey… What's wrong?" He asked, his smile quickly fading as he came over to us. My phone rang.

"Um… You guys explain. It's Stefan." I answered my phone as I walked away.

"_Found Jeremy yet?_" Stefan asked.

"Yeah, just did. How's Alaric?"

"_If he doesn't talk soon, then we agreed we have to resort to another method_."

"Another method…? Oh. No, you can't torture him, Stefan!" I protested, ducking around a corner to avoid anyone who could overhear.

"_It was his idea!_"

"I don't care!"

"_Beth, we need that stake!_"

"What we need is to stop hurting people, Stefan!"

"_Kill all the Originals except the one that turned us. That will keep people from getting hurt_."

"You do realize that I'm most likely not of your bloodline, right? We know for a fact I'm of Elijah's bloodline. We also know that Tyler was turned by Klaus, even if he didn't turn the rest of you!" I reminded him. He let out an impatient sigh.

"_We'll deal with all that later._"

"Whatever. Don't do anything stupid until I get back."

"_How can I? You and Damon took all the stupid with you_." He joked. I let out a laugh.

"It's good to see you still have your sense of humor. And we'll be back soon. Talk to you later."

"_Sure. Bye_."

"Bye." He hung up. I tucked my phone back into my pocket and turned around. I gasped when Kol was right behind me. He smiled.

"Surprised?" He asked me, as if it wasn't obvious already. I folded my arms across my chest.

"Uh… Yeah. A little warning next time would be nice. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"First of all, to do this." He leaned in and kissed me. Part of me wanted to pull away, but the other part wanted to kiss him back. The second urge won over. I kissed him back, pushing myself closer to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist. He pulled away.

"And here Klaus is under the impression all the Salvatore's are bad." He murmured. He kissed me again, more passionately this time. He pushed me against the wall, his hands cradling my face and neck. I forgot all about our mission here. I forgot about my ex-boyfriend just a few yards around the corner. I forgot about my brother, who would try to kill Kol the second he saw us kissing. I forgot about everything except for myself and Kol. Then he pulled away again.

"My apologies."

"For what?" I asked, breathless and confused by his words. Then he slammed my head into the wall.

* * *

I woke up to someone shaking me. I moaned and forced myself to open my eyes. Damon was leaning over me.

"I'm guessing you've met Kol." He said, pulling me to my feet. I held my head in my hands painfully and nodded.

"He must've been fast." He added, pushing my hair aside to examine my head. I felt heat rush to my cheeks.

"Uh, yeah… He was." I said, trying to sound indifferent about the matter. Damon let out a groan, letting my hair fall over my eyes again.

"Tell me you didn't let the Original-Physco fool you with some romantic jabber?! AGAIN!" He cried.

"What do you mean again?!" I demanded of him. Jeremy and Elena were giving each other confused looks behind Damon.

"I mean 'oh Damon, you can't snap Kol's neck! He gave me two seconds of his attention!', Beth!" Damon told me.

"Damon-."

"You know what? Forget it. He's down, but not dead. We need to move fast." He took my arm and pulled me towards the car.

* * *

We got to a motel and grabbed our luggage from the car. Damon didn't look happy with this.

"For the record, Elena's the one that wanted to stay in a motel, not me." He reminded us. I threw my duffel bag at him, which he caught.

"I'll be inside in a minute. I want to call Stefan." I told him, pulling my phone out.

"Stay close." He said warningly. I shot him a look.

"You don't trust me?"

"I've learned not to trust you with Elijah or Kol around." He said simply. He, Jeremy and Elena went into the motel room while I called Stefan.

"Hey, how's it going?" I asked when Stefan picked up.

"_About to resort to the… other method… Any luck there?_"

"We ran into a bit of… trouble. Kol, to be exact."

"_He's in Denver?!_" Stefan demanded.

"Yeah… He attacked Damon."

"_Did you two… talk? I know there's some romantic tension between the two of you._"

"You are such a Damon!" I cried.

"_Sorry. Just curious. Remember that he's an Original, Beth!_"

"I know… I remembered that about the time he bashed my head into a wall." I admitted.

"_You were alone with him?_"

"I was… kissing him. He started it, but… yeah…. You know what; I'm going to let you go. Don't hurt Alaric too much." I hung up before he could protest. I hurried into the motel room.

"I will go get us something to eat while we wait for Rose to come back with some useful information. Beth, stay with them. Little Gilbert, Elena, make sure if Kol shows up she doesn't decide to sleep with him." Damon said. I shot him a look. He ignored it and left the room.

"Oookay… I'm going to take a shower." Elena said. She grabbed a change of clothes and went into the bathroom.

"So what's up with you and Kol?" Jeremy asked, not attempting to hide his disgust about that. I looked over at him.

"What's up with you and Anna?" I snapped. He gritted his teeth. I shifted my weight to my other foot uncomfortably.

"I'm not with Anna anymore." He reminded me.

"Well, I'm not with Kol. And at least I had the decency to kiss him after we'd broken up!" I told him.

"You think that I don't know I made a mistake with Anna! I've apologized a million times, Beth! What else do you want me to do?!" He was yelling now. I realized Elena was just avoiding us by hiding in the bathroom; the shower wasn't even running in there.

"It doesn't matter what you do, Jeremy! It matters what you did!" I yelled back.

"I can't fix it!"

"You're right, you can't! You can't fix any of this! You can't fix how much it hurt!" I cried. He kissed me before I could go on. I had forgotten how much better it felt than being kissed by Kol. I kissed him back. He pulled me closer to him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He sat back on the bed, pulling me onto his lap. I pulled away and rested my forehead on his.

"I'm sorry." He admitted.

"Me too. Now please shut up." I kissed him again.

* * *

Later that night, Elena had actually taken a shower and Damon had returned:

"You guys should get some rest. I'm sure Rose will make herself known when she gets back." Damon said. He went to freshen up in the bathroom. Elena sighed and flipped off the light before climbing into one of the two beds. Jeremy, who was already lying in the second bed, looked at me and patted the mattress beside him. I looked towards Elena and then towards the bathroom where Damon was. Then I climbed onto the bed next to Jeremy.

* * *

A little while later, Jeremy shook me awake.

"Rose is here." He looked at where I assumed Rose was and talked to her for a minute. I looked around. Elena and Damon were both gone.

"Let's go get them." Jeremy said, looking back at me and referring to Elena and Damon. We hurried out of the room and stopped dead when we saw Damon and Elena passionately making out.

"Elena?!" Jeremy asked at the exact same time that I said 'Damon?!' in shock. They both turned.

"Oh my god, Jeremy! Uh… I…" Elena gasped. Damon just looked annoyed.

"Rose found Mary. She's in Kansas." Jeremy said. Damon nodded.

"Okay then… Let's go."

* * *

We pulled up to an old, abandoned looking house in the middle of nowhere and got out of the car.

"This is the address…" Jeremy said.

"Looks about right…" Damon muttered. He looked back at Jeremy and me.

"You two stay out here."

"Why? So you two can make-out again?" I demanded.

"Stay here." He said firmly. Then he and Elena headed into the house. My phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket. It was Caroline. I answered it.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"_Don't ask me 'what's up', Beth! What is wrong with you?!_"

"Um… not following." I admitted.

"_You made out with KOL!_"

"Oh. That."

"_Yeah. That. Stefan told me about it. How was it? Is he a good kisser?!_"

"Caroline!"

"_What? I'm interested!_" I glanced at Jeremy, who was giving me a weird look. I'm guessing my side of the conversation didn't seem all that informative about what was going on.

"Uh…. Well…" I sputtered.

"_Is Jeremy there? Is that why you're not answering? Fine, I totally get it. Ex-boyfriend and all._"

"About that… We've kind of gotten back together."

"_WHAT?!_"

"Yeah."

"_Did you kiss?_"

"Yes."

"_OH MY GOSH! You made out with Kol and Jeremy? Compare them. Whose the better kisser?_"

"I'm not having this conversation with you, Caroline!"

"_Yeah, you are! Compare!_" I glanced at Jeremy again before answering.

"Kol for skill, Jeremy for passion." I said. Jeremy gave me a really weird look. I looked away.

"_HA! See, you've been thinking about it!_"

"Shut up!" I told her teasingly.

"_Maybe I should hang up so that you can have fun…_" She said in a suggestive way.

"Caroline!" I warned. She laughed.

"_Any other kisses I should know about?_"

"Don't tell Stefan this." I warned.

"_Cross my heart._" She promised sincerely.

"Elena and Damon made out. Like really made out!"

"_Seriously?!_"

"Jeremy and I walked in on them. There was little shame on Elena's face. She loved it." I said, gritting my teeth. I couldn't stand how Elena was making Stefan and Damon fight over her.

"_I won't tell Stefan!_" She promised again, obviously grasping the seriousness of this. I nodded, though she couldn't see it.

"Thank you." I told her.

"_I gotta go. See you when you come back into town!_"

"Okay, bye."

"_Bye_." She hung up. Jeremy was still giving me a weird look.

"Kol's more skilled at kissing than me?" He asked. I shrugged, putting my phone back into my pocket.

"He has more experience. He is, like, a thousand years old!" I reminded him.

"Maybe I just need more practice…." Jeremy mused. He leaned forward to kiss me.

"No!" Damon's warning made us stop and step away from each other.

"What happened? What did 'Mary' tell you?" I asked as Elena went around the other side of the car to get in the front seat. Damon shook his head.

"She's dead. Thank your Original boyfriend for that. Let's go home." He climbed into the driver's seat. Jeremy and I exchanged looks. Then we climbed into the car and prepared for the long drive home.

* * *

**A/N So you guys obviously saw that the starting scene was with Alaric and Beth instead of Alaric and Elena like in the show. I just feel that Alaric and Beth are closer than Alaric and Elena. Also, don't worry: Kol's not gone for good yet and I have a lot more to say on their relationship. Please review to tell me what you think! **


	20. Do Not Go Gentle

**A/N Hope you like it, please review, all that usual stuff.**

* * *

Caroline led me through the school gym, where the decades dance decorations were being set up. She paused by a ladder as Jeremy and Matt hung stars from the ceiling.

"What are you doing? You can't just hang them! They're supposed to trickle down!" Caroline complained.

"Trickle, duh." Matt said, playfully pushing Jeremy. Caroline rolled her eyes and led me away.

"Look at them, all bromancy." She muttered.

"Matt's been helping Jeremy readjust. He got Jeremy his old job back at the grill." I told her.

"That was nice of him." Caroline amended.

"Jeremy has a lot on his mind. The whole thing with Alaric has him really stressed out."

"You sure it doesn't have anything to do with you getting all hot with the Original-Frat-Boy?" She teased.

"Caroline, I'm pretty sure Stefan didn't tell you that so that you could torture me about it! And that's my nickname for him, not yours." I complained.

"You call him 'Original-Frat-Boy'? You have a nickname for him? What's your nickname for Jeremy?"

"How about 'my-boyfriend'?" I suggested. She rolled her eyes.

"You and Jeremy are going together right?" She asked.

"To the dance? Yeah."

"Not Kol?" She asked. I smacked her lightly on the arm.

"Caroline! I'm not with Kol!"

"Whatever you say…"

* * *

That night at the dance, Jeremy and I hid out by the bleachers, avoiding dancing.

"You two should get some social lives." Damon said from behind us. He sat down in between us, which didn't go un-noticed by Jeremy, who rolled his eyes.

"We have social lives. It just involves vampires and doppelgangers and hybrids and vampire hunters and witches…" I mumbled.

"Well, we need to talk. Up you go." He pulled me to my feet and out of the gym. Elena and Stefan were waiting out there to talk.

"What's going on?" I asked, looking around at all of them.

"Alaric wasn't taking his magic medicine. He's back to being Evil-Alaric." Damon explained shortly.

"If Alaric is sick, we need to find a cure. Something!" Elena said.

"For once, I agree with the doppelganger! We have to help him!" I added.

"We tried medicine. We tried magic." Damon reminded us.

"Why don't we get him off Vervain? Compel him?" Stefan asked.

"To do what? Pretend to be Alaric? The guy we know is gone. We're talking about someone who not only hates vampires, but vampire sympathizers. Which makes one of his most obvious targets, I don't know… Elena!" Damon told us.

"What? You think he'd go after Elena?" Stefan asked.

"So, wait, what are you suggesting we do?" I asked Damon.

"I'm suggesting we put him out of his misery!" He said. Before I could protest, Jeremy walked up.

"No! No way in heck!" He cried.

"Oh come on! It's what he would want. It's a mercy killing!" Damon said.

"No, it's murder! It's Alaric, we can't!" I told him.

"You are out of your mind!" Jeremy added. Jeremy turned and left. Elena sighed and hurried after him. I looked back at Damon.

"No, Damon!" I told him sternly.

"Beth-."

"Don't! Don't try to convince me this is the right thing to do, because it's not, Damon! It's not!" I was yelling now. And crying. Stefan stepped forward, hugging me.

"It's Alaric, Damon! We can't!" I yelled again as Stefan held me. Suddenly Jeremy ran back up to us.

"Esther has Elena!"

"What?" The three of us asked at once.

"Esther. She has Elena!" He repeated. We hurried out of the school, following him. Suddenly we were blocked by an invisible force, like when we weren't invited into a house. Jeremy could keep walking, but Damon, Stefan and I couldn't. A line of salt wrapped around the school.

"Salt. It's the binding agent for a spell." I muttered. Damon grimaced.

"We're trapped here." He growled. Stefan and Damon looked at each other.

"We'll get Bonnie. Beth, walk around the school. See if she enclosed the entire school or not." Stefan said. I nodded and started walking. Jeremy joined me.

"It's good to know you're not on board with killing Alaric." He mumbled. I stopped walking and spun around.

"Of course I'm not! It's Alaric!" I snapped.

"So what are we going to do about it?"

"Snap Damon's neck if he gets anywhere near him." I suggested, turning and walking again.

"Okay." He left it at that.

"Go back inside. I'll walk the perimeter. Call me if there's anything new I need to know." I told him. He nodded and hurried back into the school.

* * *

I came back around to my starting point without finding any exit. I even tried moving some of the salt, but that did nothing. Klaus was standing there, examining the salt, when I got back.

"What is this?" He asked himself.

"Your mommy's back." I told him. He turned to look at me.

"What?"

"Esther. She's back. What wasn't clear about that?" I asked.

"I almost missed your sarcasm." He sneered.

"I almost missed… No wait, I just hate you." I returned.

"I don't know why Elijah likes you so much, Miss Salvatore." He muttered as we walked back into the school.

"Maybe because I'm not an evil, backstabbing piece of crap like someone right beside me…" I suggested.

"Beth?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"You first." I returned. He looked at me, smirked and then kept walking. We went into the classroom where Bonnie, Jeremy, Stefan, Damon, Elena and Bonnie's newest boyfriend Jamie were.

"What's taking so long? All boundary spells have loopholes." Klaus said impatiently as Bonnie began chanting. Matt came into the room.

"People are walking right past the barrier. It's just anyone supernatural that can't get out!" He informed us.

"Matt and I can leave! We can stop Esther ourselves!" Jeremy said.

"It's suicide, Jeremy!" I protested. Klaus grabbed Jamie by the throat and started strangling him.

"Suicide would be disappointing me! Now work your magic, witch, or I'll start killing people you fancy." Klaus threatened.

"Let him go!" Bonnie cried.

"Not until you get us out of here!"

"Don't be stupid, Klaus… Bonnie doesn't care about any of us. The only reason she's helping us right now is to save Caroline and Tyler. You start killing the people she cares about, she'll tell us all to go to hell." Stefan reminded him. Klaus released Jamie.

"It's not a bad idea to have Matt and Jeremy go stop Esther, at least until I can get us out of here." Bonnie said. She pulled a map off the wall and put it on the floor.

"Jeremy." She held out her hand. Jeremy gave her his hand. She used a pocket knife to cut into his palm and drip blood over the map. She started chanting. The blood didn't move.

"Esther is fighting me."

"Esther couldn't possibly have this much power. Unless she's channeling something." Klaus said.

"A hotspot?" I suggested. Klaus smirked.

"Get the humans ready… I know where she is."

* * *

After Matt and Jeremy left, Klaus and I paced outside the school.

"I wonder what will happen when Elena makes her choice between your two brothers…" He mused.

"It's not your business; it's theirs." I snapped.

"I think it's yours as well… I mean, you and your brothers are inseparable… What happens when they fight and never make up? What will you do?" He pressed.

"Klaus!" I warned, gritting my teeth.

"Sorry, but it's the truth, love."

"Don't call me 'love'!"

"Sorry, love." He said it just to annoy me even more.

"Klaus!" He was looking very amused with this. Bonnie came out with Damon and Stefan.

"It's down; you can leave."

* * *

We were at the Salvatore tomb. Alaric was transitioning into a vampire, but he wasn't going to complete the transition. Elena and Jeremy had already talked to him and now it was my turn. I sat on one of the benches inside the tomb with Alaric beside me. We were both silent for a minute, because there wasn't a lot to say at this point.

"This wasn't how it was supposed to happen." I mumbled as tears rolled down my cheeks.

"I know, Beth…. I'm sorry." He rubbed my shoulder.

"I mean… You're the one person I can always count on!" I sobbed. Throughout my time in Mystic Falls, Jeremy had cheated on me, Stefan had fallen off the wagon more than once, Damon was… Damon. Alaric was the only one that was always there for me. What was I supposed to do without him to count on? It just wasn't right.

"But I can't become a vampire, you know that." He whispered. He hugged me. I cried into his shoulder.

"Take care of Jeremy for me. He needs you." He added. I nodded.

"Maybe on the Other Side you'll see Jenna again." I suggested, trying to be cheerful. He nodded.

"Yeah, maybe… You'll be okay." He told me. We reluctantly pulled away from each other.

"You should go." He added, nodding towards the doors. I numbly walked out of the tomb and over to Jeremy. Damon closed the doors to the tomb.

"I'll keep watch over him. Make sure no human wanderers in." Damon said glumly, flopping down with a bottle of alcohol on a rock.

* * *

Jeremy and I went to his house and to his bedroom. We sat down on his bed.

"You gonna be okay?" Jeremy asked me. I wiped at my eyes.

"I should be asking you that." I mumbled. We lied down and fell asleep together.


	21. Before Sunset

**A/N This was another favorite of mine to write. I hope you guys enjoy it. **

* * *

The next morning, Stefan and I were just leaving the Gilbert house when someone knocked. I answered the door. Damon was holding Bonnie by the arm. She had a bite mark on her neck, with blood dripping down onto her shirt. Damon looked at the two of us.

"We have a problem."

* * *

Damon, Stefan, Bonnie and I stood in the Gilbert kitchen. Stefan brought Bonnie a towel for her neck wound.

"What do you mean he turned? I thought you were standing guard!" I told Damon.

"Don't blame me! Blame Bonnie the Blood Bank! She fed him!" He shot back.

"I had no idea what was happening, okay? The witches led me there! They wanted him to feed so he'd turn." Bonnie explained.

"So where's the stake?" Stefan asked.

"Oh, you mean the white oak one? The one that can kill an Original and wipe out an entire line of vampires? We don't know." Damon said, glaring at Bonnie.

"If you are so upset with me, why did you feed me your blood to save my life?" Bonnie demanded.

"Because I do stupid things, Bonnie. I do things like let my friend die with dignity when I should have just killed him myself!" Damon told her.

"Alright, so how do we kill him?" Stefan asked.

"I've been trying to figure that out. A witch can't truly make an immortal creature, there is always a way to undo a spell." Bonnie explained.

"So what's the witchy work around?" Damon demanded.

"That's the problem… I don't know." She admitted. The doorbell rang. We turned towards it at Jeremy answered it. Klaus was outside. Stefan and I hurried over.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, hooking my arm in Jeremy's.

"Well, for starters, young Jeremy here could show some manners and invite me in." Klaus said, smirking.

"Jeremy, why don't you go up to your room?" Stefan suggested. Damon walked over.

"Now." He said firmly when Jeremy hesitated. Jeremy walked upstairs after shooting me a concerned look.

"Hmm, poor lad. Loses one questionable father figure only to be replaced by the likes of you two. I'm sure having a vampire girlfriend that can be a psychopath at times doesn't help." Klaus said. I jumped forward towards him, but Damon and Stefan caught me, holding me back. Klaus smirked.

"Like I said: psychopath." He said, laughing. He looked back at Stefan and Damon.

"Oh, for the record, I know all about my mother's invulnerable little creation and that's why I'm here. I'm leaving town, just need to pick up a few road trip necessities… Spare tire, flashlight, doppelganger." Klaus said.

"Can't help ya there." Damon told him. He pulled Stefan and me back and shut the door in his face.

"Get Elena!" He told Stefan. Stefan hurried upstairs while Damon gave Bonnie a short explanation as to what was going on. Stefan and Jeremy came back downstairs.

"Where is she?" Damon demanded.

"She's not here." Stefan told him.

"What do you mean she's not here? Where did she go?" He cried.

"What is going on?!" Jeremy demanded.

"Klaus wants in. We have to keep him out." I explained. Damon looked out the window, opening the blinds just enough for him to peer out.

"Duck!" He yelled, throwing himself to the floor. Stefan grabbed Bonnie and they threw themselves to the floor by the stairs. Jeremy and I ducked behind the couch. The window shattered, sending glass everywhere. A newspaper landed at my feet. At least he was being creative… I looked at Jeremy. He nodded, reassuring me of his well-being. I echoed his nod. We all kept our heads low as we went into the kitchen for cover.

"I think you probably want to let me in!" Klaus yelled from outside.

"Beth, keep watch." Damon hissed. I hurried over to the broken window and looked out. Klaus was pacing on the sidewalk impatiently.

"Are you going to let me in, Little Salvatore?" Klaus called to me. I pretended to think about it.

"How about… no!" I yelled back. _The neighbors must love us,_ I thought sarcastically.

"Oh, come on, love! What have I ever done to you?" He tried to flirt, to be the good guy in this situation. I rolled my eyes.

"Give me a week. I'll get you a list!"

"Fine, let's play it that way, Short-Stuff!" I looked out the window again.

"Short-Stuff?!" I repeated. A piece of a picket fence grazed my shoulder and I jumped out of the way. I darted back to kitchen.

"Duck and cover." I warned. Jeremy and Bonnie went by the fridge, protected by the wall in between that and the living room. Stefan pulled me behind the counter while Damon ducked behind the table. The front door was flung open and another piece of a picket fence narrowly missed Damon's head, hitting the wall behind him.

"Missed me!" He yelled at Klaus. He pulled the picket out of the wall and hurled it back at Klaus. Another one hit a picture frame on the wall.

"Missed me again!" Damon told him.

"How is this helping?!" I demanded of him. He pretended I hadn't spoken. Stefan's phone rang. He looked at it and then answered it.

"Seriously!? Now!?" I demanded of my other brother. He ignored me. I crawled over to Damon.

"This is fun." I said sarcastically. Suddenly Stefan walked over to the front door. Damon and I looked around the table to see what the heck he was doing. Klaus stood on the porch with a newspaper on fire.

"Put it out." Stefan told him.

"Come out here and make me." Stefan stepped outside. I darted out after him to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. I heard a groan from inside that had to have come from Damon, since I was all too familiar with his 'my siblings are idiots' groan.

"Elena's not here. Alaric has her and Caroline and he's gonna kill them both unless you turn yourself over to him." Stefan explained.

"Now, I know you're not asking me to walk into certain death."

"I really wish I could, but unfortunately, if Alaric kills you there's a one in four chance that Damon, Caroline and I die too." Stefan reminded him. Damon walked out of the house, carrying a picket casually on his shoulder.

"I'll take those odds." He said, smirking.

"And a hundred percent chance that Tyler dies!" I reminded them, shocked that they would just forget about this so easily. Damon looked at me.

"I'm good with that too!" I glared at him.

"Why don't we just figure out a way to put Alaric down?" Stefan suggested.

* * *

Klaus and Stefan were pacing while I sat on the porch steps and Damon leaned casually against the picket in between us, like a guard on duty.

"Okay, how about Damon sneaks in and distracts Alaric while Stefan, the short one and I get Caroline and Elena?" Klaus suggested. I glared at him for referring to me as 'the short one'. He looked amused and a little pleased with himself for that one.

"Huh… That's a great idea. But what's to stop me from getting killed instantly?" Damon asked.

"Nothing!" Klaus said with a wide smile. Bonnie walked out of the house.

"I might have an idea. My mom used a desiccation spell on Mikael that immobilized him for over fifteen years. If I can get it, I might be able to do the same to Alaric." Bonnie said.

"If and might? Your words inspire such confidence." Klaus said sarcastically.

"I'll get it! But even with the spell, we'll need a lot of vampire muscle to take him down. Including yours." She said. Klaus looked around at all of us.

"Just so we're clear, the sun sets in about eight hours. If we don't succeed before then, Elena will be dead, I'll be gone and the rest of you will be left to fend for yourselves." He told us.

"As long as you're being a team player." I said sarcastically. He looked at me.

"Love, I'm always a team player." He returned my sarcasm.

"Don't call me 'love'." I warned.

"Very well, short-stuff. Let's get moving, shall we?"

* * *

Klaus, Stefan and I pulled up at the school in Stefan's car. Stefan and Klaus climbed out of the front seats. I had to crawl into the front seat and climb out on Klaus's side. He gave me a flirty smile.

"Leave me alone." I mumbled, slamming the car door harder than I meant to. Stefan looked at his phone.

"Abby just showed up."

"Good. Perhaps this plan won't be an epic failure after all. You know, if this does go off and we drop the history teacher in the Atlantic, I'm still leaving with Elena." Klaus said.

"I'll go with you." Stefan told him.

"Really? What's the catch?"

"There's no catch... I'd turn my back on everything here to make sure Elena's safe." Stefan told him. Klaus looked over at me.

"Would the littlest Salvatore be joining us?" He asked.

"Bite me." I returned.

"I would, but that would kill you. So feisty… It's quite a good look for you!" Klaus told me.

"I thought you liked Caroline?" I asked.

"I like any girl that isn't naturally drawn to me. I like a good chase."

"So you like every girl on the planet?" I teased. He shot me a half hearted look.

"You'd be surprised how many girls want this." He motioned to himself.

"Yeah… I'm sure the numbers are in the negatives."

"Can we focus?" Stefan asked impatiently. Klaus rolled his eyes.

"Very well. Let's get started." We walked over to the table outside where Bonnie, Jeremy and Damon were waiting for us.

"Look at this, one big happy family!" Klaus said. Everyone ignored him. Bonnie handed a vial to Damon.

"Drink this. It's my blood. It bridges us all together so that when I stop Jeremy's heart, you'll have the power to stop Alaric's. You need to make a physical connection to his bloodstream; a vein, artery, something connected to his heart." She explained. Damon drank some of the blood and handed the vial to Stefan.

"If one of us gets a clean shot, take it. The others hold him down. It'll take all of us to take Alaric." Stefan told us. He drank some of the blood and handed it to Klaus.

"Before we all walk in there, let's get on the same page, shall we? I am the one who created your bloodline, therefore I am responsible for Damon, Stefan, Caroline, Tyler and, of course, Abby's life, should anything go wrong. I wish I could claim Beth too, but we all know that was all Elijah's doing." Klaus explained. He took a drink from the vial and handed it over to me. I drank the remainder of the blood.

"Let's just get this over with, shall we?" Stefan asked. We went into the school. Klaus caught Caroline in the hallway while Stefan, Damon and I went after Klaus. Alaric had Elena by the throat against the lockers. Damon and Stefan grabbed Alaric by the arms, pulling him off her.

"Beth!" Stefan yelled. I ran forward to try and make contact with his heart. Before I could, Alaric pushed Damon and Stefan off him. He snapped their necks and they fell to the floor, temporarily dead. He came towards me.

"That wasn't your smartest move!" He hissed. I backed up until I was against the lockers.

"Alaric, please, I know you don't want to-." I started to plead, desperate to get through the vampire hunter to the Alaric I knew.

"Alaric's not here anymore." He grabbed me by the throat. Suddenly he off me and Klaus held him away from me, his hand in his chest. I ran over and grabbed Alaric in a choke-hold to try and keep him still while Bonnie did the spell. Alaric shoved Klaus away from him and grabbed me by the throat again.

"I should just kill you!" He threatened, raising the white oak stake. I struggled to get away, or at the very least get my hand in his chest. Klaus threw him off me again. Alaric darted forward, throwing Klaus to the ground and getting on top of him. He tried to force the white oak stake into Klaus's heart, but Klaus pushed it back. I leapt on top of Alaric, grabbing his hand and helping Klaus keep the white oak stake away from him. Suddenly Elena yelled at us. We all looked at her. She had a knife to her throat.

"Let him go, or I'll kill myself!" She threatened. Alaric threw me off his back, but kept himself on top of Klaus. I landed on my back next to Klaus on the floor.

"Put it down, Elena!" Alaric growled.

"Why? Because you still need me alive? There's a reason Esther used me to make you, isn't there? She didn't want you to be immortal, so she tied your life to a human one. Mine. That way you only have one life span to kill all the vampires and then you'll be gone! So when I die, you die too. That's it, it has to be!"

"You're wrong!" Alaric told her.

"Am I?" She challenged. She began cutting her throat.

"STOP, STOP, STOP!" Alaric yelled. Klaus threw him off. He grabbed me and darted forward to Elena, grabbing her as well. The next thing I knew, we were in his mansion. He passed me off to some of the hybrids.

"Tie her up in the basement." He ordered. I struggled, kicking and screaming as they dragged me down to the basement. The two hybrids quickly chained me to the wall and then left. I tried to reach for my phone, but I couldn't get at it. I kicked the wooden chair beside me and it flew against the wall, splintering into a million pieces. I cursed under my breath. And here I thought Klaus was actually being the good guy for once. Guess I learned my lesson about that… Klaus came down into the room. I glared at him.

"Why do you have me?" I demanded.

"Because despite your opinion, I do have a heart. I wasn't going to let a child die at the hands of the history teacher." He said, smirking.

"Now I'll die at your hands?" I asked.

"No, no, you have a choice. You can become my little companion like Stefan was, or yes, I can have my hybrids kill you." He explained.

"How do I say this nicely? How about: no way in-." Klaus walked out, slamming the door behind him and interrupting me. I growled and pulled at the chains. I couldn't break them. I struggled anyway, hoping for an amazing stroke of luck. Suddenly the door opened again. I looked up, expecting to see Klaus. Instead it was Tyler. He put a finger to his lips, signaling for me to be quiet. I nodded. He quickly unchained me.

"Let's get Elena and get out of here." He whispered in my ear. I nodded again. We snuck out of the basement and into another room, where Elena was tied to a chair, a tube attached to her arm and a blood bags filling up with her own blood. Tyler and I hurried forward to untie her.

"So much for that sire bond." Klaus said behind us. We both turned around.

"Yeah, he's done being your lap dog." I told him. Klaus smirked.

"How did you break the sire bond?" Klaus asked.

"By breaking every bone in my body a hundred times for the girl I love." I was untying Elena while Tyler kept Klaus distracted.

"That's impossible." Klaus said behind me. I undid the last knot and gave Elena a forced, but hopefully reassuring smile.

"Is it? Or maybe real love is stronger than fake loyalty. But what would you know about that?" Tyler asked.

"You know, you should be thanking me. I gave you a gift. I took away your misery."

"You didn't give a crap about me! You just didn't want to be alone!" Tyler came back over and we pulled Elena to her feet to get her out of here. Klaus darted forward. In only a second, he had pushed Elena down against the step, thrown me into the wall and had Tyler against the other wall.

"Goodbye Tyler." He tried to put his hand in Tyler's chest, but Tyler twisted his arm back. I launched myself onto Klaus back, pulling him down to the ground. I rolled over so I was on top of him.

"You really need to stop messing with my family!" I hissed.

"Family?" He echoed.

"You don't know the first thing about it, do you, Klaus?" Tyler asked, taking my arm and pulling me to my feet. Klaus got up as well.

"You really think that you two can defeat me?!" He yelled. Damon and Stefan walked into the room.

"I think the four of us can." Stefan said. Damon ran to get Elena while Tyler and I held Klaus's arms. Stefan darted forward and stuck his hand in Klaus's chest. Klaus struggled but Tyler and I held him. He began to desiccate. Once he was completely neutralized, Stefan pulled his hand out of his chest. Tyler and I just dropped him, letting him fall on the floor. Stefan looked over at Damon and Elena.

"We should get her home before the sun sets." He said. Everyone nodded and walked out of the room.

* * *

**A/N Klaus and Beth's interactions are probably the best part of writing this fanfiction for me. I hope you guys liked that episode. Please review! **


	22. The Departed

**A/N Here it is! The final episode of season three! I hope you guys like it. Please review as always! And now, on with the episode!**

* * *

Stefan, Damon and I were driving towards the Atlantic to dump Klaus's body and be done with it. Damon was talking to Jeremy on the phone.

"You did what?!"

"_I took her to the hospital. When you find your sister unconscious, you call 911._"

"Not when you have a parade of vampires at your disposal!" Stefan grabbed the phone from Damon.

"Every remaining Original is gonna want Elena dead to stop Alaric. She's a sitting duck in there!"

"_Well Meredith wants to keep her here for observation_!" Damon grabbed the phone back.

"Jeremy, get Elena home, we're on our way." Damon hung up and looked between Stefan and me.

"Have I told you lately how much I appreciate you not being the dumbest little siblings on earth?" He asked. I shot him a look for calling my boyfriend 'dumb' but didn't tell him off.

"At least one of us needs to keep moving to keep Klaus's body safe and hidden. I don't want Alaric finding him and killing him. You may think it sucks being of his bloodline, but trust me, it sucks worse knowing you're the only person who _isn't_." I told them.

"Right…" Stefan agreed. I wasn't sure if he was agreeing to keeping Klaus hidden or being the only person who would survive if Klaus got killed. Probably a little of both.

"I'll go back. Elijah won't kill Elena if I'm there, Rebekah's a total blonde idiot, I can easily overpower her and I can easily distract Kol." I added.

"You're not going alone because (a) you put too much faith in Elijah, (b) Rebekah would kill you and (c), you're not going to distract Kol by making out with him. I would be perfectly happy if you two were never within ten miles of each other again." Damon told me.

"Beth, you and Damon stay with Klaus's body. He should be protected. I'll go back alone." Stefan said.

"Fine."

* * *

A couple hours later, Stefan had returned to Mystic Falls. I had taken the passenger seat, holding Damon's phone. Stefan had called and put us on speaker-phone so that we could hear the conversation and contribute.

"_All we need is to take that stake away from him. Once he's been disarmed, the weapon's in my possession, my family will scatter to the ends of the earth and Alaric will follow us._" Elijah said on their end.

"What if they find you?" I asked.

"_We're good at hiding_." He assured me.

"I don't care about Blondie or the Original-Frat-Boy, but if you die, my baby sister dies!" Damon reminded him.

"Don't call Kol that." I told him.

"Oh, I forgot. Your nickname for him is yours alone. Right." He said, rolling his eyes.

"_And you'll just run? Just like that?_" Stefan asked.

"_We've done it before. Klaus and Rebekah spent the better part of a thousand years avoiding our father. What's another half century while Elena is able to live out the rest of her natural life?_" Elijah asked.

"_We've finally stopped him, Elijah. After everything that he's done to us, I can't just let you bring him back!_" Elena said, referring to Klaus.

"_I give you my word Elena. I will not revive Klaus within yours or even your children's lifetimes. Perhaps that will finally teach him some manners…_"

"_Why should she trust you? All you've ever done is screw her over!_" Matt said.

"_And for that I am deeply ashamed. But know this: she could have been dead the instant I walked through that door tonight, so, Elena, I leave it to you to make the decision to trust me or not_."

"Not! Hello, did that concussion give you brain damage?! His lunatic siblings will kill you the first chance they get!" Damon yelled.

"I trust Elijah!" I shot back at him.

"Okay, we seriously need to see if you have some crazy sire bond with him because this is getting annoying!" He told me.

"_Rebekah and Kol will honor the terms! If you return Klaus's body to us, Elena will come to no harm_." Elijah reassured us. I looked at Damon and mouthed 'told you so' at him. He glared at me.

"_Do we have a deal?_" Elijah asked.

"No! No! No! No! Did I mention NO!" Damon yelled.

"_Elena it's up to you._" Stefan told her.

"Oh come on!" Damon cried.

"_Why do you want Klaus's body?_" Elena asked.

"_He's my brother. We remain together_." Elijah told her. I looked over at Damon again.

"Like us!" I said, poking his arm. He mumbled something that sounded like 'poor me'. On the other end of the phone, Elena sighed.

"_We have a deal._"

"NO!" Damon hit the steering wheel.

"_It's my choice, Damon!_" Elena yelled back.

"You're going to break the speakers on the phone…" I muttered. I heard the front door of the Gilbert house open and shut. People started talking, but I couldn't make anything out.

"Hello? What's going on?" Damon asked.

"_Jeremy ran into Alaric at the Grill_." Stefan said.

"What?!" I demanded, jumping in my seat.

"_He's fine. But we have a plan. We're going to send him on a wild goose chase._" He told us.

"_It will buy us the time we need_." Elena added.

"Fine, fine." Damon said in agreement.

"Jeremy?" I asked.

"_Yeah?_" He replied.

"Don't get hurt."

"_I won't. Love you_."

"Love you too."

"Kill me now." Damon said. I hit his arm.

"_Rebekah will meet you to get Klaus. She'll text you the meeting place_." Elijah said.

"Oh no. We pick the place." Damon told him.

"How about I pick the place? Everyone's happy." I suggested.

"_Yes, that will work._" Elijah agreed.

"Are you sired to her now?" Damon teased.

"_Damon_?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"_Shut up_." I laughed.

"_I believe Beth's rubbing off on me. Now, text Rebekah and we'll get this over and done with_." He added. He hung up. I put the phone down.

"No offense, little sister, but the only places you know happen to be in Mystic Falls or fast food restaurants." Damon reminded me.

"I know. You pick. I'll say I did."

"Agreed."

* * *

Damon brought Bonnie to the storage unit facility where we'd hidden Klaus to do her cloaking spell so no one could find him yet. I was hiding out in one of the units; the door shut to hide the fact there was a coffin inside. The door slid open and I jumped up. Damon and Bonnie came in.

"One beef jerkified Original." Damon announced. Damon and I opened the coffin lid. Klaus's eyes opened.

"That's not creepy at all…" I mumbled.

"Give me a minute?" Bonnie asked. Damon looked like he was going to protest, but I dragged him out of the storage unit, leaving her to do her spell.

* * *

Later, Damon and I were sitting on a couch in a storage unit, on the phone with Stefan.

"Bonnie just left. Rebekah should be here soon to pick up the body." Damon explained.

"_I've got Caroline and Elijah in place. Jeremy is going to lead Alaric to us._"

"You just had to let her make the choice, didn't you?"

"_What would you have done, Damon?_"

"Grabbed her, gagged her, throw her in a well… I don't know, anything other than let her trust Elijah!"

"Elijah can be trusted!" I protested.

"_Look, he's not been my favorite vampire around, but if Elena trusts him and Beth trusts him, then I trust him, alright_?" Stefan asked. Damon mumbled an 'okay'.

"_As soon as we disarm Alaric and get the stake, hand over the coffin and get out. Alaric's got half the police looking for Klaus's car._" Stefan added.

"Will do." Damon agreed. There was a bell to signal the elevator coming up to this floor.

"Gotta go, Original sister is here." I grabbed the phone from him before he could hang up. He went to meet Rebekah while I talked to Stefan.

"Is it Elena or me you trust enough to trust Elijah?"

"_Beth, I know what you're doing._"

"What am I doing?"

"_You're jealous._"

"Um… No." I said, confused.

"_Beth, I know that lately it seems all of Damon's and my decisions go back to Elena, but you're still our sister. We're going to protect you, not just Elena._"

"Thanks, big bro, but I think we both know all of Damon's decisions will always go back to Elena."

"_He cares about you too._" I heard someone walking towards the storage unit.

"Damon's back. Gotta go. Bye." I hung up and stepped halfway out to meet him. Alaric was coming towards the unit, opening all the others as he searched for the coffin. I silently cursed and darted out, ducking behind a corner. I heard Rebekah calling for Damon. I darted towards the sound of her voice before Alaric could get to her. I put a hand over her mouth and dragged her behind the corner. I motioned around the corner, still keeping my hand over her mouth. She looked out and saw Alaric. I pulled my hand away from her mouth since I was pretty sure she wouldn't talk anymore. She looked over at me and mouthed 'where is the coffin' at me. I pointed down the isle but then motioned for her to wait. I hurried over to an unconscious Damon and gave him a shake. He moaned quietly and sat up. He looked at Rebekah and then at me. He mouthed 'let's go' before climbing to his feet, pulling me with him. Rebekah, Damon and I darted to the storage unit and wheeled the coffin out towards the car. We had just gotten it to the car when Alaric darted up. He slammed Rebekah's head against the car, dropping her to the ground. Damon and I rushed at Alaric, but he kicked Damon out of the way and then grabbed me by the throat and flung me into the wall. I hit the ground hard and looked up. Alaric opened the coffin and pulled out the white oak stake. Rebekah screamed, scrambling to her feet.

"NO!" Alaric stabbed the white oak stake into Klaus's heart. Klaus's body was set on fire. Alaric slammed the lid down again. Rebekah screamed and cried while Damon held her back. I ran over to the other side of her, helping Damon hold her back. Alaric turned around.

"Next?" He asked, smirking. I growled. Damon pushed Rebekah in the opposite direction.

"Rebekah, run, run!" He yelled. She darted off. Damon rushed towards Alaric, but Alaric pushed him to the ground. I darted around behind him and reached up to snap his neck. He spun around and grabbed my arm, twisting it until I both felt and heard a crack. He kicked me in the stomach and then threw me to the ground. He ran after Rebekah. Damon coughed and pushed himself up into a sitting position. I popped my arm back into place and then crawled over to sit next to him. He held out his hand. I handed him his phone. He called Stefan.

"_Damon?_"

"Bad news, brother. Alaric staked Klaus. He's dead." Damon sure knew how to sugarcoat it, didn't he?

"_I feel okay. Do you feel anything?_"

"No."

"It took Sage about an hour to get sick." I mumbled, pulling my knees up to my chest.

"Yeah, or Klaus was lying about being the sire of our bloodline."

"_Well, if he wasn't lying, an hour is not enough time to get you two all the way back to Mystic Falls._"

"For us to have our epic goodbye, Stefan?" Damon asked.

"_Not us, brother. You and Elena._"

"Well, I guess you'll just have to say goodbye for the both of us. Here." He handed the phone over to me. I leaned against Damon's shoulder as I talked.

"Stefan?"

"_Yeah, I'm still here. Beth-_."

"Klaus was lying! I know it! He had to have been! It was Elijah or Kol or Rebekah! It probably was Elijah! I mean, he turned me, so it makes sense! Right?" I was crying now, unable to hold the tears back any longer.

"_Beth… I'll see you at home. When we learn Klaus is a big fat liar._" Stefan said, trying to make me feel better.

"You'd better…" I choked out.

"_Beth?_"

"Yeah?"

"_I love you, little sis._"

"I love you too." He hung up. I looked up at Damon. He smiled, though it was a little forced.

"You two are gonna feel real stupid when it turns out that Klaus is a liar." He said. I forced out a laugh and then buried my face in his shoulder.

"Damon?"

"Huh?"

"Please." I pleaded. He knew what I meant. Please let Klaus be a liar. Please let them survive… His phone rang. He looked at it.

"It's Elena." I sniffed and moved away.

"I should call Jeremy anyway." I pushed myself to my feet and dialed Jeremy's number on my own phone. I put it to my ear and begged he'd pick up.

"_Beth! Are you okay? Did Alaric hurt you?_"

"He killed Klaus, Jeremy! If it's true, then, yeah, he did."

"_But you were turned by Elijah!_"

"I know, but Jeremy…. If he didn't lie, then I'm about to loose both my brothers, my best friend, an ex-boyfriend-slash friend… I'm going to loose everyone!"

"_Hey, you won't loose me_!"

"I know, but-."

"_I know. Not enough. Are you coming back to Mystic Falls to see Stefan?_" He asked. I started crying again.

"Damon and I don't have enough time to get back to Mystic Falls. I can either go right now and see Stefan or stay here with Damon. There's no third option."

"_So you have to choose…_" He said, understanding.

"Yeah. And Stefan is going to be surrounded by you guys back there. He has Caroline and Elena and everyone… As much as I want to see him, I have to stay here with Damon." I told him.

"_Yeah, okay… I'll see you soon_."

"Yeah. Bye." I hung up and hurried back to Damon. Alaric was just coming back. He hadn't seen me yet. I ducked behind the corner. I heard Alaric's fist connect several times with Damon. I circled around behind Alaric.

"You're not gonna fight back?" Alaric asked Damon. Damon was lying on the ground, blood running down his face.

"You're kind of invincible, Ric."

"Don't call me that." He kicked Damon in the face. I was right behind him now.

"We're not friends." Alaric added.

"We were."

"Well, our friendship was part of the problem. It's what kept me weak. It's also why it took so long for the real me to break through… And now I'm going to break you."

"Not if I break you first!" I told him smugly. When he turned around, I decked him. I ran over to Damon and pulled him to his feet.

"You should be weakening… Oh, no… Elijah turned you." Alaric said, shaking his head. He rushed forward, throwing me to the ground. He punched Damon, putting him on the ground again.

"Is that all you got?" Damon asked.

"Not quite!" Alaric tried to stake Damon. Damon caught his wrist and threw Alaric off him. I rushed forward and grabbed him by the throat. He shoved me off and tried to stake me. Damon caught his wrist to stop him. Alaric dropped the stake.

"What's happening?" He moaned.

"What?" I asked.

"No!" Damon gasped.

"What's happening?!" Alaric fell to the ground and Damon caught him. I crawled over to them.

"You're not dead! You're not dead!" Damon cried.

"Alaric!" I yelled as he started to desiccate. He died, going limp. I started crying but then I looked up at Damon as tears glistened in his eyes.

"Elena." He put Alaric on the floor and ran towards the car.

"Damon! We don't have the time!" I cried.

"Maybe we do. Come on, please." He said, motioning towards the car. I looked at Alaric and then climbed into the car with him. He drove towards MysticFalls.

* * *

When we got into Mystic Falls and Damon still didn't seem sick, I began to think that maybe Klaus was lying about it. Damon went to Elena in the morgue while I met with Jeremy in the hallway.

"Jeremy!"

"Beth!" He collected me in his arms.

"Are you okay?" He asked into my hair. I nodded against his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Elena?" I choked out her name, knowing how hard it must be for him.

"Meredith… Meredith had given her vampire blood."

"What?!"

"Elena's a vampire."


	23. Season Four

**Season Four is now up! It is under the title 'The Vampire Diaries Season Four'. Yeah, I'm super creative with titles aren't I? (sarcasm) **


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